Friendship, Love and Pranks
by marauder26
Summary: They say someday your life will flash before your eyes...The Marauders. The name alone strikes fear into the hearts of teachers and makes girls swoon. Watch as Sirius, who has always kept his emotions locked up in a box, finally finds the girl that has it
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

Friendship, Love and Pranks: The Story of the Marauders

Chapter 1: Making History

_Dear Diary,  
Today we are going to some place called Diagon Alley to buy stuff for my new school. I'm supposed to meet Professor Flitwick there so he can show me where the shops are. Maybe I'll even see someone do magic! I can't wait!  
Yours, Lily _

Lily Evans and her mother walked into a pub called The Leaky Cauldron. It was a good thing Lily spotted it, because her mother walked right past it. They were supposed to meet Lily's Professor so he could guide her around the shops to buy her new items to go to Hogwarts, a wizarding school. That's right, Lily was a witch. Everyone in her family was so excited for her, except her jealous sister, Petunia. 

Suddenly, Lily spotted a boy and girl who looked about her age sitting at a nearby table in the pub. The boy had messy black hair, glasses, and hazel eyes. The girl was extremely pretty, with long and wavy brunette hair and enormous purple- were they really purple? How odd! -eyes. The girl suddenly looked up and smiled at Lily. She waved her over towards them. Lily walked over nervously.

"Hello?" she asked.

The girl looked at her, still smiling. She had a nice smile. Lily felt relieved. "Hi! Are you starting at Hogwarts this year?" the girl asked her, jumping right into it.

"Yeah…are you both starting, too?" Lily was still sort of nervous, even though this girl apparently wasn't.

"Yes," the boy said. He seemed friendly to Lily, but he kept looking at her strangely.

"What's your name?" the girl asked her.

"Oh! Sorry! I'm Lily Evans!"

The girl looked both surprised and happy. "You're Lily? Great! I'm your guide! My name's Adriyana by the way, Adriyana Dumbledore." She jumped off of her chair and shook Lily's hand.

"You're my guide?! That's great! I thought I was getting a teacher…"

"Yeah, Flitwick couldn't make it, so my grandfather sent me in his place. Says I do enough shopping to know this place like the back of my hand."

Lily giggled. "Your grandfather?"

"The Headmaster. I live with him." She said, adding, "So, is your mom coming with us?" as she pointed to Mrs. Evans, standing in the corner, looking more nervous than her daughter.

"Only to the bank," Lily was especially happy that this was true because Adriyana seemed like a great new friend and her mom always asked annoying questions.

"Hey, can I come with you guys?" the boy asked, suddenly. Adriyana looked at Lily questioningly. They nodded. The boy grinned.

"Great! I'll go tell my mum!" he responded, running off.

"Tell her she needs to open the gateway, none of us have a wand…yet," Adriyana called after him and smiled, possibly at the thought of getting a wand.

"How long have you known him?" Lily asked her. The two were apparently friends.

"Since I was four. His parents came to Orde-, I mean, meetings at my house and he would hang out with me while they were busy," she replied, looking sort of nervous, like she had almost let slip a secret.

"Oh…and his name is?"

"James Potter. He's pretty cool, and he's been one of my good friends for a while, we have a lot in common."

The three children, along with Lily and James' mothers, left the back of the pub and were now facing a brick wall. Lily was fascinated by the whole brick poking routine, and was somewhat sad when the mothers took their leave once they were out of the bank.

Only kidding. Freedom!

Eager to buy wizard supplies and talk to her new friends, Lily took off. As they walked down the street, James ran up to almost every window and looked at something, and Adriyana started telling Lily about all the shops and what they sold. She waved brightly to almost everyone who passed on the street.

Their first stop was a large store called Flourish and Blotts. Adriyana explained to Lily and possibly James that this was a bookstore, because he had never set foot in the place in his life, or any bookstore for that matter.

They were looking for _The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)_, but couldn't see it anywhere. Why would such a common book be so hard to find?

"Where is it?" James asked, getting impatient.

A young girl walked out from behind the bookshelf they were looking on. James had his back to her, but she was carrying four copies of the exact book they were looking for. "Here, I found them!" she said, happily. James jumped.

"Thanks!" the two girls exclaimed, each taking a copy and smiling gratefully. 

"I'm Amber Carmichael, by the way!" the girl said. 

"Nice to meet you!" said Lily kindly. They all introduced themselves to her.

Amber was average height, with blonde hair halfway down her back, and dark but sparkling blue eyes. She looked very friendly to Lily, judging from how she had helped out three strangers. It turns out that she was starting at Hogwarts, too. 

They got in line to pay for their new books. Amber stood behind them. She was staring at the brown haired boy who was standing in front of the three of them with apparent interest.

Adriyana, who Lily could already tell was a very bold individual, noticed this and tapped the stranger on the shoulder. He shot about a foot in the air, and whirled around in shock. When he turned, they saw that he had caramel colored eyes and – Lily gasped – was covered in scars. He was looking down at his feet.

"Hogwarts?" Adriyana asked, noticing he had the same books as them.

"Yeah…Remus Lupin," he said shyly.

"Adriyana Dumbledore,"

"James Potter,"

"Lily Evans,"

"Amber Carmichael," she said with a giggle.

"Are you guys going to the apothecary next?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, wanna come?" James said, clearly relieved to find another boy.

"Sure!" he said. Amber looked ecstatic and asked if she could come too. Lily liked her a lot.

When they were all done paying they ran out of the bookstore….

…And right into another boy.

The blonde boy had watery blue eyes. He looked rather intimidated by them. Lily felt sort of sorry for him.

"Sorry!" James said, helping him up. Then he noticed the list that had fallen out of his hand. "You're starting at Hogwarts too, I see. What's your name?"

"P-Peter P-Pettigrew," he said, shakily. He looked like he wanted to run away as fast as he could.

After everyone in the group had introduced themselves to Peter, his mother started yelling for him in a nearby shop and he had to run off. Not that he was to upset about that, though.

"Interesting kid," James mused. The five of them continued down the street and entered the apothecary. When they got there, they saw a young girl (she looked about their age) hiding behind a barrel of something slimy. She looked like she was spying on a tall, slightly older boy who was buying potions ingredients with a very rapt interest and a look of adoration on her face. Adriyana told Lily that the boy was named Frank Longbottom, and he was starting his second year, but she didn't know the girl.

The girl had thin strawberry blonde hair and bluish-green eyes. She looked sort of thin and pale, but still healthy. Adriyana gave her a 'what are you doing?' look, and the girl pointed at Frank and then fanned her face, like she was flustered. The girls all giggled. It was clear that she had a thing for this guy.

Then Frank walked away and the girl regained her sanity, and walked up to them.

"Hi, I'm Alice Cohen…who are you guys?" she said.

They went through their introductions again. Alice joined the group, to the joy of all the girls, who were becoming fast friends. Remus and James were bonding as well.

Next they went to Ollivander's. Lily was so excited to buy her wand, so the others let her go first. Within three minutes, she had her wand. It was swishy and made of willow. James' wand was pliable and made of mahogany, and just a little longer than hers. It was no surprise to Ollivander that Adriyana's wand contained a feather from her own pet phoenix. The others looked shocked at this, so she explained how she had gotten one of the children from her grandfather's phoenix, Fawkes, for her 11th birthday. The other two girls' wands both contained a unicorn hair, and Remus' had a dragon heartstring core.

They went to buy pets next. Adriyana already had her phoenix but the three girls and two boys all got owls, though Alice was seriously considering a toad when she saw Frank come in and buy one. In the end she settled for naming her owl 'Trevvie' after his toad, Trevor.

Lily checked her list and was sad to see that there was just one stop left, the robe shop. She had been having so much fun!

Reading her mind, Adriyana said, " Lily, we'll see you again in a month! At school!"

"Yeah! We can all meet on the train!" Amber agreed.

"Maybe we'll all get put in the same classes! James put in.

"Yeah, you're bound to be in the same house as at least one of us!" Added Remus.

"I hope I'm in Gryffindor!" Lily said.

"Then you'll likely be with Agie and I," James said, then covered his mouth at the embarrassing nickname.

"You don't know that you'll be in it," Adriyana said to him  
This wasn't what James was hoping for, but he recovered quickly. "Of course I will, my whole family had been for years!" he said. He seemed rather boastful, like he was really proud of this fact.

"Gryffindor sounds good to me," Remus said. Amber immediately agreed.

"I still have no clue-" Alice began.

"Frank's in Gryffindor," Adriyana noted as she opened the door to the robe shop.

Alice ran over to a scarf display and plucked out a red and gold one, holding it up to herself. "Well, now that I think about it, Gryffindor suits me quite well,"

"I really hope I get sorted there!" Adriyana agreed.

"I wish I was…but I doubt it," a boy behind her said.

She whirled around, now facing a handsome boy who (you guessed it) looked like he was starting at Hogwarts this year, too. He had black hair that fell elegantly in front of his pale grey eyes.

"Why not?"

"All my family has been in Slytherin. Gits." he said with a frown. James snorted.

"Why? What's your surname?" James asked.

"The bane of my existence." He muttered.

"Really?! How strange…" Alice said.

"My family is a bunch of foul people that think they're better than everyone else because they're 'pure blood'," he growled. "It makes me sick!"

"Well, that's awful!" Lily said. "What's pure blood?"

"People from all wizard families," James said.

"Like you guys?" She pointed to Adriyana and James.

"Yeah, but we don't think like that," James said, turning to the boy "I'm James Potter, by the way."

The rest of the group introduced themselves to the boy as well.

"Oh, I'm" – He cringed – "Sirius…Black," the boy said. James gasped.

"But I wish I wasn't…oh how I-,"

"SIRIUS BLACK!" An older woman who must have been his mother stormed up to him, screaming, " HOW DARE YOU DISGRACE OUR HOUSE BY TALKING TO SUCH FILTH! WHEN YOU REGAIN YOUR SENSE, I'LL BE WAITING OUTSIDE!" She pushed him to the ground and stomped out.

Without hesitation Adriyana and James held out their hands to him. It was a sign that he counted them as his equals when he took their hands and they helped him up. 

"Well…nice meeting you guys…I'd better go or she'll kill me…" he stalked out.

"See you at Hogwarts!" Adriyana called after him.

Petunia Evans' face was contorted in jealousy when her dratted sister walked in with five new friends. She glowered at Lily.

Lily was already counting the days until Hogwarts in her head. She was secretly overjoyed at her sister's face when all five of her friends said, "bye, Lily!" in unison when her mother waved her over. She laughed as she left behind Alice mooning over Frank, Adriyana and James talking animatedly about Quidditch – whatever that was – and Amber and Remus talking while exchanging darting glances. How awesome were her new friends?! Also, she noted, James was kind of cute.

She went home that night with a light heart and even lighter pockets.

One month later….

Sirius Black, Amber Carmichael, Alice Cohen, Adriyana Dumbledore, Lily Evans, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, and James Potter become the new Gryffindor first years.

The rest is history.


	2. Chapter 2: Drink This Pink Goo

Chapter 2: Drink this Pink Goo Cause My Friend Thinks You're Cute!

_Dear Diary,_

Remember me? I haven't written in a while; a month to be exact. This summer, I could spend so many lazy hours just writing, and doing basically nothing else. But since I got back I really haven't had the time…In fact, I haven't written ANYTHING yet about my sixth year at Hogwarts. I guess there are a lot of things that have changed, which I was scared of, but many things are still the same. For example: James Potter is still an arrogant prat, Remus Lupin remains the only remotely sane "Marauder" of the lot, Amber and Alice are still dating Remus and Longbottom, and Adriyana and I are still joined at the hip. Not literally, of course. Though that would be rather amusing…how would we ever use the loo?  
It's in Adriyana, though, that I notice the most change. She's acting strangely lately. I think she likes someone, which is good, because she hasn't had a proper boyfriend since Gideon Prewett in fourth year. I would say Adriyana gets bored easily with some guys, but that's not really true…she gets bored easily by EVERYTHING. There isn't a thing that Adriyana doesn't think could be made more exciting. Usually by means of explosion or some kind of cheek on her part. Still, I wonder who she's crushing on.

Hey, here she comes now. I'll ask her. It must really be serious if she hasn't told me yet.

Lily

P.S.–She just told me. Oh, Merlin. Agie…MY best mate Agie…fancies Sirius Black? No, it can't be. 

"EVANS!" James yelled, stomping across the common room carelessly.

Lily whirled around, scowling at him. "What is it, Potter?"

"Wanna be my date to the Halloween Dance?" he asked, holding out his arms. 

"Let me think about it," Lily deadpanned.

"Really?" James asked, incredulously.

"Yeah…it's going to take a lot of thought, though…I'll let you know around Christmas, I guess."

She walked away before she could hear his confused, "But won't the dance have ended by then?"

The stupid git would never change. Lily consoled herself with the fact that at least word of the dance was getting around. Once the four girls of Gryffindor's sixth year had heard that Frank Longbottom had been dubbed Head Boy, they'd been petitioning him to ask Dumbledore if they could have one. It had been YEARS since Hogwarts had had a dance of any kind, all they had was this stupid "Seventh Year Back To School Banquet," which, as the name suggests, was only for the seventh years, and Lily wasn't even sure any actual dancing was involved.

"MAYBE JUST ONE DANCE…OR SOME PUNCH?" James yelled, his voice reaching an astounding volume in an attempt to get Lily to hear it from her new location, on the other side of the common room.

"I don't get it! Why won't she say yes?" James asked his fellow Marauders, slumping on the couch, seemingly defeated. Well, maybe for a day or so.

"Prongs…" Remus said, sighing. "She's not going to change her mind unless you start acting different."

James groaned. "But I _like_ me this way!"

"Well, it's pretty clear that Lily doesn't…"

James scoffed, as if the very thought of such a thing was impossible. "How would it help me to get a date with Lily if I stopped asking Lily on dates?"

Before Remus could answer (not that there was much to say to James' question that hadn't already been said…several times), they saw a girl coming toward them.

"Hello," she said, finally reaching them. James didn't recognize her, but she looked like she was only a year or so younger than them, with short blonde curls and dark eyes. 

"Can we help you?" Peter asked, and raised one eyebrow. 

"Sure," she giggled. James rolled his eyes. "I was just wondering…since Sirius has no date yet for the Halloween dance–"

"Sorry, not interested," Sirius said flatly, not even looking at the girl, but straight ahead, to where Lily and her friends were sitting.

The girl stormed away, as James gaped at Sirius. He shouldn't be that surprised, really; Sirius, who was usually known as a heartbreaker, sometimes being seen with a new girl every few days, hadn't as much as _looked_ at one since toward the end of their fifth year.

Well…there was _one_ he'd been looking at quite a lot, actually. 

Remus watched his best friend as he stared down the group of girls. Being the reasonable one of the group, he'd known that Sirius would have to feel something for a girl at some point in their time at school, even the tiny spark that was the crush he clearly had on some girl right now.

He looked in the direction Sirius was gazing…it didn't take a genius to figure it out. Sirius would never go for Lily, because James would kill him, and he wouldn't be hung up on Remus' own girlfriend, Amber, either, because "he doesn't go for chicks with glasses." That left just two of them, Alice and Adriyana. He compared the two. Alice was fairly smart, but wasn't as pretty as Lily or Adriyana, who she was seldom seen without. Adriyana was indeed very attractive, and, though she possessed a strong wit, wasn't known for living up to her last name in the "genius" department, to say the least. 

But…Alice wasn't single, and Adriyana was. Plus, now that Remus thought about it, if he had to pick out the perfect girl for Padfoot, she'd be a lot like Adriyana. A girl who loves to laugh and can take a joke, who would rather spend time hanging out with Sirius than doing her homework, and who would also appeal to the shallow side of Sirius that Remus couldn't just pretend didn't exist.  
Yes…Adriyana Dumbledore was an excellent match for Sirius Black.

Remus cleared his throat, and all the other Marauders looked at him. He opened his mouth, trying to say it casually, but also aching to laugh as he thought of what Sirius' reaction would be, "Padfoot, Why don't you ask Adriyana to the dance?"

And Sirius did not disappoint him, jumping nearly a foot in the air before he began to sputter, turning a spectacular shade of red somewhere between "Hogwarts home-style tomato sauce," and "Peter's mum's lipstick."

_Remus Lupin, master of unearthing hidden emotions_ Remus thought, with a satisfied grin one usually wore when they hit the nail on the head.

"…That looked like it went really well, Lils," Adriyana said as she approached. Lily glared, but burst out laughing a second later.

"I'm not kidding! Normally, a bloke won't offer to get you a drink until you're actually _at_ the dance!" Adriyana said, grinning.

"Not like I'd ever let him take me. I've never seen such an extreme case of megalomania in my life!"

Adriyana stared at her blankly for a moment. "Not all of us read the entire bloody dictionary over the summer," she said, finally.

Amber, with a self-satisfied smirk, said, "She means James is exceedingly arrogant, and has an undeserved sense of satisfaction." Amber always got excited when she knew something Adriyana didn't. She never gave up a chance to correct any of the four girls when they said something wrong, though when she corrected Adriyana it was in a more condescending manner. The two were still friends, but Amber always got a kick out of one-upping Adriyana, and none of them knew why.

Adriyana shrugged. "I've got bigger problems right now," she said. 

Lily looked up at her. "What is it?"

"Nobody's asked me to the dance yet!"

Lily sighed. "Agie. It's not that no one's asked you…it's that _Black_ hasn't asked you."

"Yeah, but none of them are Si–er, none of them fit my…um…criteria."

"What would those be? Black hair, grey eyes…" Lily went on and on, and Adriyana looked over toward where the Marauders were sitting, and smiled.

Why don' you jus' ask 'im?" Alice said, as eloquently as one with seven pieces of Drooble's Best-Blowing Gum stuffed in their mouth could.

Adriyana shrugged again. Lily knew she was kind of self conscious when it came to Sirius because the rest of his family treated her with a less than friendly demeanour. Adriyana hadn't ever let any of the things that Bellatrix and Narcissa said bother her before, but Lily knew what Adriyana was thinking, how it would be so easy for them to impress their thoughts upon Sirius.

"Come on, Agie...You're almost too good for the boy," Alice said. Lily nodded in agreement, sizing Adriyana up. She had lovely, though abnormally large, purple eyes (not naturally…but it was a long story Adriyana refused to tell, so they all assumed she'd done something stupid), pale freckles across the bridge of he nose, and long, light brown hair that fell in messy waves. It drove Lily mad when a piece of it fell in front of Adriyana's eyes, but Adriyana didn't seem to mind. It wouldn't surprise Lily if she walked around with that one supremely annoying piece hanging right over her left eye _just_ to annoy people (like herself) to no end.

A part of Lily…a rather big part, actually, was worried for her friend. She knew about Sirius' reputation…they both did. She was shocked at Adriyana. How could she fall so easily into the trap that was Sirius Black? She thinks she can change him, does she? Lily snorted. Boys don't change. Sure, she used to be mildly attracted to the way James Potter looked, but once she saw what a bullying toerag he was she'd given up on him immediately. Why? She knew he'd never change, and she liked her heart unbroken, thank-you-very-much.

Adriyana, though…how could she be so stupid, to think that Sirius Black would want a girlfriend?

The next day, in History of Magic, Sirius took the seat right next to Adriyana's usual seat. She looked like she was blushing a little when she sat down.

Usually, she sat there in a half-asleep trance, but today, it looked like something was distracting her, and making her jumpy. She sat there, painting her nails with odd colours of nail polish, like green, blue, and purple, drying the polish with her wand, peeling it off, and starting over again.

She was just putting on her third coat of the purple polish when a note came whizzing across the room, hitting her in the head with a faint rustling noise. She pulled the balled-up parchment out of her hair and read it.

Sirius watched intently. After a minute or so, she scowled angrily, scribbled something at the bottom of the note roughly, and passed it to _him_. He jumped a bit as she smiled at him.

"Give it to Thomas," she said shortly, avoiding his eyes. Sirius couldn't help himself…WHAT could the note say?

He casually dropped it under the table, shot Adriyana an apologetic smile, and dove after it.

He unwrapped the note from the tight ball Adriyana had made it into with her fist, and read:

_Adriyana,_

You're hot. Would you like to accept the honour of coming to the dance with me? I can show you the Ravenclaw common room afterwards, and my dormitory, and my bed…hell, I can show you EVERYTHING, baby. 

Sirius made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat. How could anyone talk to someone as great as Adriyana like this? He knew Broderick Thomas had a bad reputation…a lot like himself, actually. Would Adriyana just hate him too because she thought all guys were like this?

Beneath the letter, Thomas had made three boxes, next to each he had written either "yes," "no," or "maybe." Adriyana hadn't filled out any of these boxes, but there was a fourth box underneath, written in purple ink and bubbly, girly handwriting. He wondered vaguely why she wrote in purple ink, and laughed when he read it:

_Go bugger yourself, Thomas. Merlin knows nobody else will._

Then she'd made put a check through the box next to it. He grinned, and read the rest of what she'd written at the bottom of the letter:

_Wow, Thomas, you sure do know how to compliment a girl. Because you're probably too thick to figure it out, I'll let you in on a little secret. I'm being sarcastic. No, I'm not interested in you, and no, I never will be. I'd never date anyone like you, you great prat. _

The last sentence made Sirius cringe. He REALLY wanted a chance with Adriyana…ever since fifth year. He'd even stopped dating other girls because none of them were anything like her…or, at least…what he'd hoped she'd be like.

"Sirius? Hey, Black! Did you die down there, or something?" He heard Adriyana's voice call. 

"Dammit!" he whispered, quickly crumpling up the note again. "I'm fine, Adriyana!" He shot back up, grinning sheepishly, and tossing the note back at Broderick a bit harder than someone who didn't know its contents would.

Adriyana turned around again with a small smile, focusing again on peeling off her nail polish.

Sirius stared at her in shock for a minute. Oh, Merlin. She really though he was like Thomas! That's why she'd been acting so strangely around him lately! Fuck.

No. Sirius wouldn't let himself quit that easily, he hadn't even had a chance yet!

A note landed on his desk. He opened it roughly, assuming it was from Broderick again, and had just missed Adriyana. 

_Padfoot, _

Definitely not Broderick. He recognized it a second later as Remus' untidy scrawl.

_You have to make her feel special. Trust me. Think of doing something that's the polar opposite of what you usually do with, to, or around girls._

-Moony

Sirius grinned, ignoring the jibe and looking instead at the advice it concealed. If that's what Adriyana wanted, that's what she'd get.

_Merlin, how can this really be happening? Sirius must be just like Broderick, yet I still like him. I'll bet he read that note while he was under the table, and now the thinks I'm some kind of tart…_

Adriyana shook her head, turning her focus back to her potion. Lily looked up from her cauldron, its contents looking exactly like it should. She raised her eyebrows when she saw the contents of Adriyana's cauldron, which looked like pale pink porridge.

Suddenly, she brightened. "Agie," she whispered. "Add five drops of Hellebore, a pinch of Asphodel, and then spit in it!"

Adriyana stared at her like she was crazy. "I dare you to," Lily said with a wink. Adriyana rolled her eyes and sighed, but began adding the ingredients. Adriyana would do absolutely _anything_ if someone dared her to do it.

Adriyana managed to fallow Lily's steps without messing them up, but as soon as she spit into the cauldron, the contents turned a blinding, fluorescent pink. 

Adriyana looked up at Lily, who was grinning maniacally. "Lils, you prat! I thought it would fix my potion. This doesn't look like "pale chartreuse" to me! And I don't even know what chartreuse is!"

Lily laughed. "I didn't say it would fix the potion, but here's a bottle. I want to slip some in Potter's drink at dinner. Should be interesting."

Adriyana poured a ladleful into the bottle, then pocketed it, her eyes flashing over to where Sirius was working. Forget giving it to James, she had better ideas.

"What will it do, exactly?" Adriyana asked Lily, twirling the glowing bottle in her hand.

Lily just smiled, eyes glinting mischievously. "You'll see."

"And how the bloody hell do we get Sirius to drink it? We can't just slip it in his drink! I mean, I would think it odd if my water started glowing pink. I would think twice before drinking it, really," Adriyana said.

"Just one question…If you like the guy so much, why are you torturing him?" Amber asked, putting her fork down.

Adriyana sighed. "First of all, I don't know what it does. It could be anything from a love potion to melon juice. Secondly…I'm using it as a gauge for how much he likes me. If he gets really mad, he doesn't, and…well, I haven't got that far yet, but still!" Adriyana said rapidly, then smiled.

"Still, we can't just go up to him and say, 'Hey, Black! Drink this shiny pink goo because Agie thinks you're really fit!' I'm pretty sure it doesn't work that way!" Lily said.

"Wait…I got it!" Adriyana said, suddenly. She turned to Lily. "Play along, yeah?" Lily nodded. 

Adriyana stared at the bottle in her hand, and, talking _very_ loudly, said, "Oh, Lils! I can't believe this stuff is firewhiskey. Who knew…um…pink…made it stronger?"

Lily looked up at her, sceptically, then snapped back into focus. "Oh, yeah…I did do…that thing," she said, in an equally loud voice. 

Adriyana looked up, seeing James and Sirius walking towards them. "That was almost TOO easy," Lily whispered. Adriyana snickered.

"'Lo Evans…Agie," James greeted them, leaning against the table 'casually.' "What's that?" He pointed to the bottle.

Adriyana stared up at Sirius, saying nothing. After nearly a minute of silence, Lily elbowed her in the side.

"Oh! Um…it's…con-concentrated whiskeyfire….er, I mean firewhiskey." Adriyana said, blushing. 

_She's adorable, really, with the stuttering and the blushing,_ Sirius thought. _But why's she doing it?_

He held his hand out to her. "Can I have a bit?"

She smiled, handing him the bottle. "Sure," she said, winking at Lily. 

Sirius downed half the bottle in one impressive gulp. It really didn't taste like anything, just lukewarm water. It didn't give him the buzz alcohol usually did, either. It was making his head feel rather warm and tingly, but not in the buzzing, swimming fashion he thought he'd get.

He handed the bottle back to her. "Thanks, but I don't think that's firewhiskey," he said. 

She burst out laughing, looking up at him. "That…that much is abundantly ob–obv--obvious!" she choked out.

Lily and James were laughing as well. "Well, Black…you've given us all a good reason not to drink alcohol!" Lily snorted.

"What're you going on about?" Sirius asked, and Adriyana handed him the mirror she kept in her rucksack. 


	3. Chapter 3: Why Detentions Are Friends

Chapter 3: Why Detentions Are Our Friends

_Dear Diary,_

Broderick Thomas is driving me NUTS! He has taken to chasing me around the halls asking me to the dance even though I blew him off on our date, turn him down every time, and …erm…kicked him in the goolies when he tried to snog me. It seems to deter most guys pretty well (which is why I do it--I don't enjoy it or anything), but not Thomas. Maybe he doesn't have much down there…it would explain a lot. Bloody hell. Now I know how Lily feels, except there's no way James is as annoying as Thomas.

Love,   
Adriyana

Dear Really Manly Journal Thing,

Girls write stuff in these to take their minds off of shit. I hope it works, because Adriyana is stuck in my head. I have to focus on something that's important right now, but it's kind of hard not to think about her when my hair is still pink from that potion she gave me. Fluorescent pink. I mean, I couldn't sleep last night because of my stupid glowing hair. Plus, I think of her every time I look at it…Ok, girls are wrong. Writing in a journal is NOT fulfilling, it blows!

-Sirius

Dear Diary,

Potter has asked me to the dance 23 times now. I must find a date, I'm going crazy. Can't he take a hint?

A.F.A,  
Lily 

Adriyana sat next to Lily in the common room; they had a break before Transfiguration and were doing their Potions essays. Lily was fantastic at Potions but Adriyana was abysmal, so she needed help. A lot of help. "So…what is powdered root of asphodel?" Adriyana asked for the millionth time.

"It's the key ingredient in the Potion…you know, the one we've been writing about for the last half hour..." Lily said, exasperated.

"Right…" she said, knowing that she would forget again in a second. The portrait hole opened, and Sirius walked into the common room. It looked like a flamingo was curled up on his head. He scowled at all the snickering students around him. Lily saw him and broke into hysterical laughter. She never got tired of it! Adriyana looked at him longingly, smiling a little as he came closer to them.

"Well, I'm going to go upstairs and get…my…items," Lily said lamely. She took off for the stairs.

Sirius approached Adriyana, who was trying to look studious and smart but seemed to have forgotten what she was writing about and was scribbling her name over and over into her essay. "Er…Adriyana? Can I ask you something?" Sirius asked, nervously.

_Finally,_ she thought, putting down her essay.

"Yeah? And you can call me Agie. James came up with that one, you know…when we were younger. My mum called me "Yana" but I don't let other people call me that, because she's dead now and was Italian and nobody else can say it right, because they don't have an Italian accent, so they can't roll the first bit like she could, and--" she realized she was going on about nothing and clamped her jaw shut. 

Sirius chuckled. "Um…will you…well…I want to know if….will you help me with my Potions essay? It's my worst class," he finished.

She tried not to let him see her face fall. "Er, well, it's mine also. Lily was helping me, but she went upstairs for a bit, so now I'm lost." She thought about letting him see her essay to prove it, but saw that she had written 'Sirius looks so bloody amazing, even with pink hair' on it, and hastily shoved it into her bag, blushing and grinning widely.

"…Oh," he said. "Well, when is she coming back? She can help me too, if she wants,"

"Sure, I'll get her," she said as she pulled out a piece of parchment from her pocket and tapped it with her wand.

Confused and intrigued, he asked, "What is that?" 

"Oh, it's how the four of us talk when we're far away...or don't want to be overheard. All of us have a piece of this parchment and whatever one of us writes on it appears on all four papers. We can communicate with them, she should write back any second. Oh, there she goes, see?" she said, incredibly pleased with herself for making such an intelligent speech to him and not acting like an idiot.

She showed him the paper. There, in bubbly purple letters were the words _Lils, come back down. Sirius and I need help on our essays._

Before Sirius' eyes, more writing appeared on the paper. This time, in shining emerald ink, was written _coming…_

"So, what do the colors mean?"

"Oh, we always write in our eye colors, it's easier to tell who is who, because we can't see each other. It's a habit of mine now." She motioned toward the bottle of purple ink in front of her. "Now I only write in purple ink." Again, showing him her essay as proof was probably a bad idea.

Lily joined them on the couch. Adriyana pulled out her essay and tapped it with her wand roughly, siphoning off some ink. Lily looked at the paper and snorted. "Okay, so what _else_ is there to write?" she asked. Adriyana blushed. 

James felt a stab of jealousy when Sirius walked into Transfiguration after him, talking to Lily, his Lily (sort of…in a vague "not really" kind of way), and Adriyana. Then he saw Sirius smile at Adriyana, not even looking at Lily, and started to calm down, especially when Sirius led both girls over to where he was sitting. Amazingly, Lily followed, though she didn't look happy to see James sitting there.

"Hey, Lily would you-"

"No, Potter, I will not go to the dance with you! Stop asking before I hex you into a blob of orange putty!" 

Adriyana laughed, and muttered "Twenty-four," under her breath as the three of them sat down and class began. 

Remus and Amber walked into class just before the bell rang, hand in hand. They saw the two girls and two Marauders sitting together, and separated reluctantly to sit in the empty seats next to Peter and Alice. The couple had been dating since their fourth year and had been in love for about a year now.

_Flashback _

Remus sighed sadly as he saw Amber Carmichael, the love of his life (though she didn't know it, exactly…they had only been going out for a little over a year, and they were young) looking up at him with adoration. This may be the last time those enchanting dark blue eyes ever looked at him in that way again. He had no idea how she would take what he was about to tell her--his deepest, darkest secret. Willing himself not to get lost in the pools of blue that were her eyes, he stepped a little closer to her.

"Amber, there's something I need to tell you, and it's not exactly easy," Remus said. She was sitting against a rock, reading a Transfiguration book, already studying for the OWLs, even though it was only October.

"Okay, Remus," Amber said, putting down her book.

They walked out to more secluded part of the lake. Once they got there, he turned around and grabbed her hands. "Don't hate me for what I say next."

"I would never hate you, Remus," she responded. She looked like she was about to say something else, but she bit her lip.

"Well then, here goes…I'm…a werewolf," he said, and closed his eyes, ready for the worst. He had heard so many things about werewolf prejudices, and, as much as he trusted Amber, he wouldn't blame her if she never spoke to him again. I mean, he had been a coward for not telling her for the long time they had been dating, right? He was just so afraid to lose her, but he couldn't keep a secret that big from her anymore. It was tearing him up inside every day that she didn't know.

To his surprise and dismay, a sobbing Amber fell into his arms and pulled him in very tightly. He didn't know what to think. His heart broke a little bit with every sob she let out. His gold-flecked brown eyes popped open again.

"What's the matter, love?" he said as she buried her face into his chest. 

"Well, you would be crying too if the boy you loved had to go through something that horrible and painful every month and you couldn't do anything to help him!" she said through her tears, pulling him in tighter.

"You…love me?" he asked, shocked. Of course he loved her too, but he wasn't expecting her to say that, of all things. He pulled her away from him slightly so he could brush away her tears.

"I love you, Remus," she confirmed. Her tears were coming slower now.

"I love you too, Amber," he said, pulling her in for a kiss.

End of Flashback 

He took the empty seat next to Peter and gazed at her longingly. She had her blonde hair up in a messy bun today, and was eagerly taking notes, even though they didn't have to. He had yet to ask her to the dance. I mean, it was pretty obvious that they were going together, but he was the type of hopeless romantic who did things like asking his girlfriend of over two years to every dance. He wasn't nervous; in fact, why not ask her now?

Amber looked down and smiled as a note landed in her lap. She opened it, dark eyes scanning over Remus' handwriting.

She nodded and blew him a kiss. He smiled at her.

She pulled out her trusty piece of "walkie-talkie paper," as Lily called it, though Amber had no clue what a walkie-talkie was, and tapped it with her wand. Sapphire blue words blossomed on the page:

_Guys, Remus asked me to the dance. Any ideas for costumes? _

The three other girls pulled their pieces of paper out of their pockets at the exact same time. The parchment got warm when something was written on it, thanks to Lily's Protean Charm. She heard a quiet giggle and a tap from Lily and Adriyana's table. Seconds later, Alice started cracking up, receiving a glare from McGonagall. 

Knowing anything Alice thought was _that_ funny couldn't be good, she looked down at her own paper and gasped. Of course she was right. There, in glistening purple ink, were the words _How about a pimp and a 'ho?_

She glared at Adriyana, who wiggled her eyebrows and winked. Amber was relieved. Of course she was kidding; Adriyana knew her well enough to know she would never do that. Still, it was pretty funny. She looked down, and saw that turquoise words appeared under the violet ones. Alice.

_Brilliant! That's hilarious!_

Fine, then you and Frank do it! appeared on the paper in her own dark blue writing again.

_Really? Thanks! Frank will love that one!_ He would, too. Frank loved to try things that were sometimes inappropriate, to prove himself as a good friend of The Marauders, but he was still mostly the sweet boy-next-door type, just like Alice.

_Fine Amber, how about Romeo and Juliet, then?_ came the purple bubbly writing again.

_Ooh, I'm sure Remus would go for that!_ said Lily's electric green scrawl.

Amber just smiled and nodded, looking rather insane doing so while everyone else was taking notes.

Back at Lily's table, things were a bit more…active, to say the least. They were turning knives into paper airplanes and, since all four of them had already gotten the hang of the spell, they had started a contest to see who could do the most before class ended. The table was covered in heaps of knives and paper airplanes, which they were rather carelessly swinging about, each of them trying to impress someone at the table, except for Lily, who just wanted to beat James. Sadly, he was the one who was winning.

"Why am I not winning? I'm brilliant!" Sirius wailed.

"Says the guy whose head looks like the rainbow pooped on it…" Adriyana said, snickering.

"That reminds me…how the bloody hell do I get my hair to change back?! I've tried everything!" he said, and Lily and Adriyana laughed. 

"Did you try washing it?" Lily asked, grinning.

"Yes! At least I think so. Wait…er…no," he said, feeling very stupid. The ONE day he decided to skip a shower, and they found out…

"WHAT is going on here? Knives are not a plaything!" McGonagall was standing over them now, nostrils flaring.

"Professor, we were just having some fun!" Sirius said, running his hand through his neon hair in a very James-like way.

"Oh yes, it's all fun until someone gets hurt!" she retorted.

"Yeah, then it's hilarious!" said Adriyana. Everyone went hysterical.

"Miss Dumbledore!" McGonagall gasped.

"Oh, Merlin! Did I just say that out loud?" Adriyana covered her mouth with her hands. 

"Yes, and I will see you back here at six for detention!" she yelled back. Lily looked at Sirius' face, to see if he was going to defend her. Then again, how could he? She was clearly guilty! Her eyes traveled past Potter, who, like most of the class, was still laughing at Adriyana's unintentional cheek. Sirius, however, had an odd grin on his face. Lily noticed that it was partially his 'I'm planning something' grin, but also….relief? Happiness?

How very odd…

"Romeo and Juliet? That's brilliant! I love it!" Remus exclaimed, as he and Amber walked back to the common room holding hands after class. 

She smiled appreciatively. Of course he loved it. He was the same kind of hopeless, tragic romantic as Romeo, minus the suicide part, and she would love nothing more than to be his Juliet. "I knew you would. Adriyana came up with it," she responded.

"Did she, now? I would expect something more…risqué…from her."

"Like a pimp and a 'ho? Because she said that first,"

"Yeah, that's more like her…a pimp and a 'ho…" He started laughing, and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

After Transfiguration, Lily tried to track down Sirius on the way to the common room. It was killing her that he had been smiling when Adriyana got detention. Didn't he like her? Were all of them wrong about that part and he really hated her guts? No, it couldn't be. He was probably just planning some stupid prank. But what did it have to do with Adriyana? She caught up to him. "Black!" she gasped, "What are you planning?"

"I beg your pardon, old chap?" He said, trying to maintain his composure.

"Why were you smiling in Transfiguration when Adriyana got detention?"

"Because of what Agie said. That was funny, wasn't it?" he said. And he walked away, grinning.

Later that night, Adriyana was practically limping back to the common room. Her arms were numb. She had just been scrubbing out the girl's toilets for the last two hours. Stupid spontaneous personality. Why did she blurt that out? She already knew the answer to that question. It was sitting across from her at the time and making her brain malfunction.

She reached the portrait of the Fat Lady and said the password tiredly. "Snickerdoodle," According to Lily, it was some kind of Muggle foodstuff.

"Rough day, dear?" said the portrait consolingly, as it swung open. She stumbled through the hole.

"You don't know the half of it." It was true. Between waiting anxiously for Sirius to ask her to the dance, and detention, she was utterly exhausted.

She entered the common room to see Sirius standing off to the side of the room. His hair was that amazing shade of black again. He was looking down with an extremely nervous expression on his face. He was wringing his hands. She would have gone over and talked to him, but now she really wanted-—needed--a hot shower. She trudged up to her room. It would be empty now, as Lily was on prefect duties, Alice was probably snogging Frank in his room, and Amber and Remus were working on their costumes in the Room of Requirement, she knew because she ran into them on the way back here. Remus had a very odd look on his face, like he was holding in a secret.

She entered the room, flipped on the light (which turned on the…torches?), and let out a scream of surprise.

Nobody was there, but in no way was the room empty. Every inch of the room was full of vases of red roses. They were on the tables, the floor, the ceiling (really). They were in the sink, stuffed in her shoes, dangling off the posts of her bed, EVERYWHERE!

Then she noticed the envelope on her bed.

She ran over to it, tripping over a vase of roses on her way. Even if she wasn't running, it was hard not to, as there were so many vases. Her name was written on the envelope. She opened the seal and pulled out the letter, which was written in grey ink. She smiled at the tribute, and her heart jumped. There was only one person besides the girls who knew about the ink thing, and only one she knew who had grey eyes, and they were the same person. Heart pounding in her chest a mile a minute, she brought the letter into the light to read it.

_Adriyana, _

Um…hi. First off, I'd like to say that I'm really bad at writing anything, especially notes like this. Moony told me to, though; he said it was to prove to you that you'd be more important to me than any of the other girls I've dated. Actually, the truth is…You make me smile whenever you enter the room…do you know you're really pretty?

Crap, this isn't progressing how I wanted it to. I sound like a sappy little wimp. I'll bet that's attractive. Well, will you go to the dance with me, anyway? That's what I've been trying to say this whole time.

Sirius

Adriyana put the letter down, smiling in a stupid, dazed way. Remembering Sirius was downstairs, probably waiting for her reaction to the letter in that adorably nervous way, Adriyana walked to the door as calmly as she could, given the circumstances (which resulted in a fantastic trip that sent her flying halfway across the room in just one stride).

She reached the foot of the stairs, and Sirius was standing there. Se smiled shyly at him, though they were still standing on opposite sides of the room, both of them trying to regain their usual confidence and ability to move, or say something. 

Sirius found his first. "So, you'll go with me then?" he asked, smiling.

She laughed and thought about telling him something like, 'No, I think you're gross,' but really only felt like saying, "Yes, of course I will." 

Lily walked into the common room a minute later to see her best friend sitting on the couch with Sirius, sitting very close together and talking quietly. Then she noticed that they were holding hands.

She walked up to them. "Finally! He asked you!"

Adriyana looked away from Sirius and up at Lily. "Yeah. Did the thing right, too. I got _flowers._ They're upstairs." Adriyana pointed up the stairs, rather forcefully. "Why don't you GO SEE, Lils?"

Getting the hint, Lily went up the stairs, and both of them waited for her yell of shock, and they waited for her to tumble bck down the stairs. It took her only a minute, which wasn't a very good thing in either of their books. Lily ran over to them, staring right at Sirius. "Black, where'd you find those? You couldn't have conjured them, because they'd have markings on the stem."

"I was wondering that myself." Adriyana said.

"Well, if you must know, Remus told me to give you flowers. Then I got the idea to use a ton of flowers, so I asked Professor Dumbledore what your favorites were. He told me that you loved red roses, so the other Marauders and I found these in the forest and picked them. Then I enlisted the help of the first years and some other girls to get the flowers up to your dorm and put the note on your bed. That's why I was smiling when you got detention. I would have had to ask Lily to distract you, and this way was easier. I'm sorry she put you on toilet duty, though." By the time he had finished, Adriyana was grinning from ear to ear.

"Well, Sirius, I'm extremely impressed. Who knew you had a romantic side?" Lily said, somewhat warmly.

"I don't, really. That's my brilliant side in action. I just decided to use my powers for good instead of evil." He put his arm around Adriyana.

"Only one thing left to do now!" she said, smiling up at him.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" he asked. 

"Pick out our costumes, of course!" she said.

He laughed and led her over to the couch. "Oh, this should be fun." 


	4. Chapter 4: Explosions

Chapter 4: Explosions And Ceiling Adhesions 101

_What's up, Diary?_

I'm so happy. Sirius is so nice to me, like he's never been for any other girl. Maybe it's just because he feels bad about the Howlers I get from his "fan club", which is odd, because I find them hilarious. McGonagall is on a mission to find the sender, I could tell her who it was--I know who--but then I may not get them anymore, and I wouldn't want that. They are just too funny. Especially the one I got at one o'clock this morning. Lily didn't like that one so much. Also, The Marauders' latest prank was apparently in my honor, because when we went down to the Great Hall for dinner, everyone was laughing and pointing up at the ceiling. Turns out they had magically glued Broderick Thomas to it. No, really. It took four hours to find out how to get him down, and it seems he's deathly afraid of heights. Even Lily was hysterically laughing. Anyway, next week I'm going to be so busy. The dance is on Friday, Hogsmeade on Saturday, and we kill Slytherin at the Quidditch game Tuesday. The team is amazing this year, thanks to James Potter, Quidditch Captain extraordinaire. I'm still the Seeker, but Am got picked as Chaser, along with James himself, and Liz Kelner, a girl in seventh year. Sirius is a Beater, and that new kid, third-year Joey Abercrombie, is too. He's great, but seems pretty nervous. Lila Smith is still Keeper, and Amber was so happy when Remus got chosen as the announcer. I hope he calls her some goofy pet name over the microphone. That would be hilar--Merlin! I just thought of the greatest costume idea ever! Gotta go!

TTFN,   
Adriyana

Dear Dumb Journal,

Just thought I'd tell you that the roses worked. I'm so glad they did, but I can't see why I'm even bothering to tell a stupid inanimate object.

-Sirius 

"So…we _don't_ need a Halloween prank? Why the bloody hell not?" James asked Sirius, who Remus was currently trying to stop from throwing his journal in the fire. He failed, and Sirius and Peter clapped as they watched the book go up in a spectacular burst of flames. 

"Absolutely top! Stupid book, you deserved that one!" Sirius said as he punched the air triumphantly and turned to James. "I told you, Prongs, Adriyana's got it covered. You should see the costume idea she had. It's hilarious! I hope we can pull it off!"

"Any chance you'll tell us what it is?" Peter asked.

"Sorry, mate, that's a surprise."

"Why?"

"'Cause it will be funnier. Plus Moony will tell Amber, who will tell another girl, and soon the whole school will be stealing our idea."

"So your _costume_ is the prank?" James asked again.

"Yup," said Adriyana's voice from the door, where she had just appeared. "Of course, that doesn't stop you three from…blowing up all the pumpkins, or whatever." Peter and James exchanged maniacal grins and ran off, James in the lead. "And Amber's waiting for you downstairs," she said, pointing at Remus. He needed no further convincing and bolted down the stairs after them.

Sirius smiled at her. She was so amazing. What was even more amazing was the fact that she was actually going out with him. She was one of the few girls who had never thrown themselves at his feet. He actually had to work to earn her trust and now, her affection. It had been worth it, though, he noted, staring at her as she walked over to his bed and plopped down next to him. "Ow…still sore from that stupid detention …" 

"Don't worry. Eventually, you'll build up immunity to the pain. I did," he said, putting a supportive hand on her shoulders.

"Yeah? After how many detentions?" she asked.

"Er…396," he recalled. She groaned. "Well, your costume idea is amazing," he told her.

"Thanks…you don't think we'll be expelled, do you?"

"Since when do I care?" he said, but he looked a little nervous.

"I think we should get a teacher's permission. What if we…" She broke off and looked around, then whispered the rest in his ear.

A smile spread across his face. "That'll work…wow…teacher's permission for a prank…never thought I'd see the day," he said. 

"Oh, you guys are no fun!" James pulled off his invisibility cloak and stared at them. "I try to find out your costume plans, and…ARRGH!" He stormed out.

Adriyana looked at Sirius. They both burst out laughing. Then she suddenly sat up, pulling the paper contraption out of her pocket. Sirius saw a flash of blue-green ink. She grinned. "Sirius, I have to go…is that okay?"

"Sure…why?"

"Alice needs help with her costume. This should be good…"

He smiled at her. "Okay. See you later," he said, and she grinned and left the room.

"One of you give me a bra. You all have bigger boobs than me, so I can stuff it," Alice said, standing in front of the mirror in their dorm.

Adriyana got off her bed and went over to her drawer. "Sure! What color?"

"Hot pink. No wait…red."

"I don't have either of those. Here, let's just change the color of this one. It's too small for me," she said, holding up a yellow bra. She jabbed it with her wand so that it turned a bright, flaming red.

Lily was on her bed, making Alice's shirt. She managed to grab hold of a couple of pairs of fishnet tights and was making them into a sort of top. It covered the bra bit and most of Alice's midriff, but she _was_ supposed to be a prostitute. Of course, none of them would be too surprised if it became Alice's favorite top. Lily would have to remember to throw it in the fire after the dance.

Amber, for some strange reason, had a really short skirt lying around. She was cutting it even shorter and adding red sequins to it. She had been reluctant to come up and help them with the costume even though she was just studying with Remus in the common room, but once she had gotten up to the dorm, she was getting really into making the costume.

"Now, all we need is some sparkly red slippers with high heels, red lipstick, and LOTS of hairspray," Lily said. 

Alice smiled. "Brilliant! We can get the last few things the day of the dance, and we can stick more red sequins on these shoes," she said, as she held up a pair of white 6-inch heels she had just conjured out of thin air. She couldn't do colors or patterns yet, but she was great at conjuring.

"Fantastic!" Adriyana responded. She took the shoes and turned them red as well, and then went over to help Amber with the sequins. Half an hour later, Alice stood in front of the mirror, shoving tissues down her bra, the costume complete. She looked very happy with the result. 

"So…both of us have costumes, but what about you two?" Amber said, pointing at Adriyana and Lily.

Lily said, "I'm going alone. But I'm going to dress up like…I don't know. What are some good Muggle costumes? Those are fun."

"Well, you can't go as a witch, obviously. You can't do a ghost, either. Nobody will see you under the sheet, and you're too pretty for that. How about…um…a devil?" Amber said.

"Hmm…I like it. Not as brilliant as all of yours, though," Lily responded.

"Wait until you see Sirius and me. Our costumes will put yours to shame!" Adriyana said.

"Can we see it?" Lily asked.

Adriyana jumped off her bed and walked over to the closet. She had an idea for what would happen if they asked her. She would show them her costume…but not all of it.

She reached inside the closet and pulled out a set of absolutely gorgeous dark turquoise robes with flowers sewn on them. The flowers were small and made of sparkling crystals. They were shorter than most robes, which Lily guessed was the style for teenage dress robes, but they were still very elegant.

"Um, Agie? That's not a costume," Alice pointed out.

"It's pretty, but not a costume. Alice is right," Amber added.

"Oh. My. God. Sound the bells of England! Alice is right!" Adriyana called out. Lily laughed. Alice threw a pillow at Lily.

"Besides, this is my costume. You'll see," Adriyana said.

"But how--?" Lily began.

"Hey, I won't tell you anything else. Suspense!" she waved her fingers in the air, in an excellent imitation of the Divination Professor. Before Adriyana could be asked another question about her costume, she left to take a shower. 

The next day, Remus, James, Peter, Amber, Lily, and Alice were gathered in the Room of Requirement before Potions, trying to figure out what Sirius' and Adriyana's costumes were. "Okay, so it has something to do with turquoise dress robes," Lily said. "That's all Adriyana told us."

"And it could get them expelled," added James. "I overheard them talking about it last night."

"And…it's good enough to be a prank all by itself," Peter added.

"What else did you hear when you were eavesdropping on other people's private business, Potter?" Lily asked accusingly.

"Well, er, they're going to ask for a teacher's permission, so they won't get expelled, I guess, but Agie whispered the rest of that part, so I couldn't hear," he said.

"Maybe something happens to the dress robes. They explode or something," Amber said.

"Nah, I can't see them getting permission for that one," James said. "But you may be getting somewhere. It has to be something they can get permission for, but can also get expelled for," he groaned. The whole thing was very confusing.

"So…something happens to the costume itself," Remus said.

"I think so, yes," James put in.

"Well, it did have a lot of crystals on it," Alice added. "Does that help?"

"Possibly, but both of their costumes do whatever it is. I don't see Padfoot wearing anything with crystals on it." 

"He might do it for Adriyana," Remus said, but James shook his head.

"Still, it's pretty unlikely that his costume has crystals on it. I don't think Adriyana would want to be seen with him," James replied.

A thought struck Lily. "Maybe his costume has something else on it, and when that thing and the crystals touch, like when they're dancing, something happens."

"I think that's the best idea so far, Evans." James said with a smile.

"Yeah, Lily, I think you got something!" Amber added.

Lily blushed and looked down. She saw on her watch that they had five minutes until Potions. They were on the seventh floor. "Guys, we have five minutes to get to the dungeons!"

"No problem, we can do it!" James said, as if he did this all the time, which, actually, he did.

"What!? We have five minutes to travel about a mile!" she exclaimed. 

James grinned wickedly. "Good thing you're with The Marauders, my dear."

The five NEWT-level Potions students--Amber, Alice, Lily, James, and Remus--burst into the room just as the bell was ringing. Professor Slughorn greeted them and they took their seats. Adriyana and Sirius shot each other knowing looks. There was only one reason Lily would walk in at the same time as James. They were working on the identity of their costumes, and what's more, they were probably way off. 

"So, today we will be working on this potion, here. I showed it to you on our first day of this year. It's called Polyjuice Potion. It makes the drinker transform into the body and voice of whosever little bits and pieces they add into it. Hair, toenails, what have you," Slughorn said. "Today you won't get very far. By the time you're finished at the end of class your potion will not have the muddy look of this one," he said, motioning toward his own cauldron, "but will be a light orange color. Instructions are on page 97. Begin!"

After class was half over, Lily and Snape, who was also in their class, had the only perfect potions. James and Amber ran a close second, but Adriyana's potion was worse than usual. Her potion was usually only slightly sub-par, but today it was an electric shade of tangerine and much thicker than it should be. Whether her unusually terrible potion making skills were because she was really getting worse or because Sirius was sitting next to her remained to be seen, though it was most likely the latter. She eventually gave up on her potion and settled for staring at Sirius instead. His potion was the right color but was spewing out black smoke that was making him and Alice, who was sitting next to him, drowsy.

By the end of class, everyone but Sirius, Adriyana, and Slughorn had left class, and they were ready to put their plan into action. "You ask him, Agie, he likes you more," Sirius said.

"No, he doesn't!"

"He does! He thinks he may get a pay raise for doing nice things for you, whereas I knocked out Alice with my potion's fumes today!" 

"Fine," she said. She walked up to Slughorn's desk. "Er... Professor? I have a question for you," she said.

"Yes, Miss Dumbledore?"

"I was just thinking and," she said, pointing to his cauldron of finished Polyjuice Potion, "I wonder if I might borrow some of that?" 


	5. Chapter 5: Pumpkins Are Like Boys

Chapter 5: How Pumpkins Are Like Boys

_Dear Diary,_

Slughorn gave us permission! I'm not going to write anything else about it because Lily always steals my diary. He thought it was hilarious, though. The dance is tonight and I'm so excited! It's my first official date with Sirius! I can't wait! 

Love,  
Adriyana

Dear Diary,

Time for the dance! I didn't have time to find a date, but I look pretty good in my devil costume; it's a somewhat short red dress, those horn things, and a pitchfork. It's pretty awesome. Unfortunately, Potter is also going alone and I'm sure he'll ask me to dance with him, or snog him, or worship him for all of eternity and into the beyond. Yeah, he actually asked me to do that once. Can't he take a hint? Stupid prat.

Sincerely,  
Lily 

P.S. — Potter and his friends filled the dungeons with mayonnaise today. Yes, mayonnaise. In the dungeons. I kid you not. Gits. 

Lily put down her diary and looked around the room. It was in a state of chaos. Amber was about to have Adriyana do her makeup, though it didn't look like there would be any left after Alice was done with it. Adriyana loved giving other people makeovers, and she was pretty good at it. She went light on Amber's makeup, but Remus would surely have a conniption fit when he saw her. She looked great in her Juliet costume, an old-fashioned but still sort of sexy dress in pale pink. She held a bouquet of Adriyana's red roses, which had an absurdly long life. Lily assumed magic was used somehow.

Alice's costume, on the other hand, looked positively wild, and was the polar opposite of Amber's. Lily would have thought she looked ridiculous if not for the fact that she had already seen Frank's bizarre costume, and the two were a perfect match. How he had managed to find a pink fuzzy hat in Hogwarts was beyond her, but he had also managed to find a matching pink tie, and a crazy-looking white suit. He had colored his teeth gold to look like he had caps on them and walked around wearing sunglasses, even in the dark castle. Alice was finally done with her makeup, and her costume was complete. Her hair was done up with so much hairspray that Adriyana and Lily threw rocks at her head and Alice didn't even feel it. Her makeup looked…well, it fit the costume, and overall, the whole thing was so overdone that it just screamed, "Halloween costume!" which was exactly what Alice was going for; she didn't want people to really think she was a slut.

Adriyana looked very pretty in her robes. The crystalline flowers sparkled in the light whenever she moved, and she had her hair tied up in a knot (which was hard, as there was so much of it). She had lined her unusually large eyes in a shade of turquoise that made them stand out and matched the shade of the robes perfectly. Pretty as it was, it still wasn't a Halloween costume. Lily smirked, thinking her theory might just be correct.

Lily herself looked great as well. Her hair was down, her dress hugged her body but was soft so she still felt comfortable in it, and Amber had put a spell on her shoes so they felt like pillows. She felt very…Lily. She looked good and felt great. Lily was very conservative, but the short dress still wasn't quite too short for her.

"The dance is starting soon, guys!" Amber said. They were all ready. They started to head down the stairs when…

"Oops! I forgot something!" Adriyana called as she began running back up the stairs. They all looked at each other. Knowing this had to do with her costume or prank, they went to follow her, but just then the steps turned into a slide, like they always did when a boy stepped on them. They landed on their feet in the common room, and it was clear who the culprit was.

Sirius had his foot on the slide, grinning madly.

"Black! What the bloody hell?" Lily yelled, and then backed down when she remembered that he played an equal part in the secret prank. Normally there would be no valid excuse, but she felt she had to be nicer to Sirius today, as he was her best friend's date. She noted that he wasn't wearing any odd or prankish costume, or anything that would do something when crystals touched, but he had cleaned up pretty well, Lily had to admit.

Remus' breath caught in his throat when he saw Amber. She looked absolutely gorgeous. Her loose, flowing, pale pink silk dress fell to her feet, and her golden blonde hair was longer than usual because she had magically grown it. Her eyes were shimmering with a hint of the sparkling gold makeup that she had on. He would feel so stupid standing next to her in his puffy pants.

He gasped. He had no idea how someone like him had gotten so lucky. She was absolutely perfect, every bit of her. He had a strong urge to kiss her, but he resisted, knowing how much it would embarrass her in front of her friends. 

Adriyana tripped down the slide, attempting to walk down it, the missing item in her hand--her purse. Everyone looked at her in disappointment, and she smirked.

Sirius ran forward to catch her at the foot of the slide and then almost dropped her in surprise at how pretty she looked. "Wow…Adri-Adriyana, you look…wow," he stammered. She would have thought it was funny how flustered he was if she wasn't mentally saying the same things about him.

"Thanks. You look pretty good too, Sirius," she responded, looking him up and down. There was no denying it--he looked devilishly handsome. She was glad he was holding her up; otherwise, she would have tripped. They smiled at each other.

James cut in, clearly not noticing the "moment" they were having. "Would you mind telling us what your big prank is NOW?" he said. Everyone had a hard time keeping a straight face while looking at him, as he was dressed as Severus Snape and was wearing what looked like a flesh-colored beak but was really just his nose.

Adriyana opened her purse, pulling out two bottles full of something that looked like mud. Then Lily realized what it as, as did most of the others. "Oh my God, that's Polyjuice Potion!" Amber called out.

Adriyana winked at her. Sirius handed her a medium length black hair, and she gave him a longer, glistening hair. "Are you guys going to change into each other?" Lily asked.

"Of course not. That would be stupid. I mean, who would know? There would always be one of me and one of Agie at the dance…not very funny," Sirius said. Adriyana nodded in agreement.

Adriyana added her hair to the potion. It sizzled and turned gold. Sirius's potion turned the same fiery red-orange color of Ash, Adriyana's appropriately-named phoenix. The two of them looked at each other and swallowed their potions. Wincing in pain, Adriyana doubled over and toppled onto the couch as Sirius fell behind it.

Amber watched as minute later, Professor McGonagall got up from the couch Adriyana had fallen on. She looked ready for the dance, wearing…..

Dark turquoise satin robes. Adriyana's robes.

"OH MY GOD! ADRIYANA?" Alice screamed. McGonagall nodded. Then her face broke into a wide smile. Nope, definitely not McGonagall.

Everyone stared in shock. They went up to Adriyana and started laughing. Even Lily was happy her friend had come up with such a good, harmless prank. It _would_ be pretty funny to have two McGonagalls at the dance, and to see the real one's face. But where was Sirius? They were all busy oohing and aahing when they were interrupted someone behind them clearing their throat. They all turned and saw Albus Dumbledore standing there.

_Uh-oh, they're busted…_ Amber thought. Then she noticed Albus was wearing Sirius' navy blue dress robes and his mischievous grin. It was Sirius!

Sirius grabbed Adriyana's hand. She apparently didn't care that her date was the exact likeness of her grandfather. "Lets go, then…we only have an hour to do this," she said with a mysterious smile. It looked so strange on McGonagall.

"Wait. What else are you guys going to do?" Amber asked worriedly.

"You'll see…" said Sirius with a wink.

They walked down to the Great Hall together, the Marauders raving about how they couldn't wait to see everyone's reaction to the prank. Adriyana and Sirius still wouldn't tell the rest of it, though. When they got to the doors, Sirius snuck in first, quietly.

Adriyana told them, "You guys go next. You won't want to miss this," they eagerly obliged. Amber saw Sirius hidden in the corner, and the real Dumbledore seated at the staff table, and the real McGonagall pulling dancing couples farther apart on the dance floor. Nothing out of the ordinary was happening, but Amber noticed that Peter, Remus, and James were trying not to stand under the floating pumpkins.

BANG.

The doors to the hall flew open, and Adriyana barged into the room and stormed up to the dance floor. She got really close to McGonagall. It was so bizarre, seeing two clones face to face, one furious and one flabbergasted. "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" Adriyana screamed at the real McGonagall, who was, for once, at a loss for words. It was almost as weird seeing McGonagall scream as it was to see her grin.

"Wha…how….PROFESSOR DUMBLEDORE!" she finally managed to say, calling to him urgently from across the Great Hall. 

"Yeess?" said both Dumbledores, appearing at either side of the two McGonagalls at the same time, one wearing a sly grin, one just looking amused. McGonagall's face morphed from a look of shock to one of horror. She didn't even notice Slughorn's booming laugh echoing from across the room.

"Professor, it seems as if we have an impersonator," Adriyana told Dumbledore, in a very official, McGonagall-like tone.

"YOU'RE THE IMPERSONATOR!" McGonagall yelled, losing her composure for what may have been the first time in her life (none of them had seen her yell before), and pointing an accusatory and trembling finger in Adriyana's direction. Amber couldn't hold in her laughter any more.

"I see. How very strange…" Dumbledore said, whimsically. He walked up to Sirius and began examining him up and down. McGonagall was flabbergasted at Dumbledore's nonchalant attitude.

He knew. Adriyana knew that he knew. She could see it in his glittering blue eyes. It was hilarious how he let it go on for so long. The rest of her friends were in stitches. Even Lily had to grab onto James' shoulder for support. She let go rather quickly when she noticed what she had done.

There were two minutes left until the potion wore off. Poor McGonagall was about to have a heart attack, or faint. "Why, I never…in all my years…have I seen…" was all she could say. Adriyana looked at Sirius. Maybe this prank had gone on long enough. She missed the real Sirius already. Just when she was about to say something, Albus spoke up.

"Minerva, please. Adriyana, if you will…" he motioned towards her. The huge crowd around them fell silent and the giggling ceased.

_Wow, he's good,_ Adriyana thought.

"Albus, what are you saying?" McGonagall said.

"Minerva, I recognize my own granddaughter. She pulled one of my hairs out last night. I was rather curious as to why…and those are her dress robes. This fine looking gentleman must be her date," he said as he motioned toward his likeness. Sirius grinned. 

As if on cue, the potion started wearing off. Adriyana's eyes grew larger, and changed back to bright purple. Her hair became lighter and grew until it returned to its original long caramel brown. The painful feeling of having all her bones change shape returned, and she fell to the ground. Today was not the right day to wear heels.

Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. She was Adriyana again. She looked into the familiar grey eyes of Sirius, who smiled at her. The crowd around them burst into hysterical laughter and cheers. In fact, the only one who was not about to fall to the ground laughing was McGonagall, who was staring incredulously at Sirius, as he smiled his heart-melting smile in Adriyana's direction. Dumbledore was chuckling, apparently having no problems at all with being the victim of a prank.

McGonagall seemed to think differently. "But, you can both get expelled for this! How could you--" she began, still shaking, but was cut off by Slughorn, who stepped through the crowd.

"Actually, Minerva, they had my permission to do this," he said to her. Her eyes widened in shock, and he continued, "Adriyana asked me after class yesterday if she could have some Polyjuice Potion. After she explained this idea to me, I gave it to her. It was a perfectly harmless prank that was also very amusing, as opposed to being...destructive."

Adriyana looked over to where her friends were standing. Peter, Remus, and James sported very guilty grins and looked up at the pumpkins. _Too late_. McGonagall was still in shock. Everyone began to clap again, and people started coming up to the two teenagers to congratulate them, Sirius' fan club in the lead. Seeing them approaching, Adriyana called out, "Hit it, guys!" and pointed to the stage. The Weird Sisters, a band comprised of a few members of last year's graduating class, gave her the thumbs up and started to play one of their new hit songs and the entire hall broke into an insane fit of dance fever.

Adriyana looked up. Sirius was coming up to her. As much fun as the prank was, she was excited to see his smiling, handsome face again. "May I have this dance?" he asked her, bowing exaggeratedly.

"Of course you may," she responded with a laugh and took his hand.

Remus and Amber were slowly dancing in the corner (even though the band was playing a fast, upbeat song), and staring deeply into each other's eyes. "Did I tell you what a beautiful Juliet you make?" he asked her.

She smiled. "Yes, I believe you did, Romeo. In fact, you told me that I had 'beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear.'" When he had said it, the rest of the girls had marveled at the fact that he had actually known something about the person his costume portrayed. Amber thought that the fact that he had read her favorite book, for _her_, was worth more than anything. She was so lucky to have Remus. She closed her deep blue eyes for a minute and smiled. Suddenly, she felt his soft lips on hers. She opened her eyes in shock, but didn't pull away. She wasn't often a fan of PDA, and it disgusted her to see people snogging in the halls. This kiss, however, was different, and the gesture was so sweet and romantic, she really didn't care if the whole world saw it. She brushed her hand gently through his hair. They stayed that way for a while, just happy to have each other. Finally, they pulled out of the kiss.

"I love you, Juliet," he whispered breathlessly.

"I love you too, Romeo," she whispered back.

Later that night, the band was actually playing a slow song. Sirius and Adriyana were dancing closer together than a couple on their first date should, but instead of pulling away they just kept getting closer, to the complete envy of almost every boy and girl in the room. Girls kept bumping into Adriyana, knocking her out of Sirius' arms, proud of the brief moment of separation they had caused between the couple. Boys kept walking by, muttering rather rude comments to the couple. It wasn't until one of them walked away with his face covered with purple boils that they were finally left alone.

Sirius looked at his date. She was gazing back at him and smiling. When his eyes locked with hers, he felt an electric jolt run through his body. Something about her eyes drove him crazy. It wasn't that they were purple, though he loved that. They were always laughing. Even now, they had a mysterious sparkle, making him wonder what was on her mind. His eyes traveled to her lips. They were soft and shining, coated in a sweet-smelling gloss. She was such a tease. He knew he shouldn't kiss her now, on their first date, but the urge was almost overwhelming, and the shiny gloss wasn't making things any better.

Little did he know, she was thinking along the same lines, but she tried as hard as she could to stop thinking about what a good kisser Sirius must be. "Having fun?" she asked.

"You know I am," he smiled.

"I know, I mean, just look at your date," she laughed. She said it in a joking way, but he couldn't help thinking she was right. So far, their date had been almost perfect. She had been willing to help with a prank, she was fun, a great dancer, and they had so much in common. Not to mention, she looked beautiful tonight. Her dress robes fit her perfectly. He was amazed that she and McGonagall were the same size, but since McGonagall wasn't exactly large for her age and Adriyana was, well, really curvy, he supposed it evened out, but he tried not to let his mind (or eyes) wander. Even though this was only their first date, he could tell that this was the first relationship he was actually going to take seriously. He didn't want to mess this one up like he had with every other date he had ever been on.

Suddenly, the band broke into an extremely fast-paced hit song. She grinned at him, and, ignoring the fluttering in his stomach caused by the smile, he spun her wildly, and their dancing changed with the beat of the music.

Lily was having a fantastic time at the dance. She was only a little upset that she didn't have a date, but she was having fun alone as well. She wasn't really alone, actually, as her friends--and admirers--kept popping in and out. She and Adriyana had a game where they looked for the best reaction to Alice's costume. So far it was a tie between Zach White, who had fallen off his chair and stared at her for a full five minutes, completely ignoring his date, and Frank, who was literally drooling when he saw her and hadn't taken his eyes off of her all night. He had a lot of bruises from tripping over stuff and hitting the floor. She laughed as she saw him walk into a couple dancing next to them as he watched Alice twirl.

As for James Potter, he had only asked her to dance a few times. Adriyana and Sirius were with her during one of the times that he did and after he had walked away, hanging his head in rejection, Adriyana turned to her and asked her if she had Prongs on her mind, then pointed at her devil horns and broke down laughing, perhaps harder than she should have. It really wasn't that funny, but Lily was just thankful she hadn't said it when Potter was still there.

She saw Sirius and Adriyana sit down next to Remus and Amber at their table when the dance ended. She told Liz, a seventh year girl she was dancing with (they were friends), that she was going to join them. Liz nodded Lily headed over to the table all three of her friends (and their dates) were sitting at. Adriyana and Sirius looked really tired; they had just been doing an extremely complicated dance that had caused a crowd to form around them again. Adriyana looked like she was having the time of her life. Thick ropes of her light brown hair had fallen out of the knot that had once been neatly tied up at the back of her head.

"What's going on, Lily?" Adriyana asked as she approached.

"I'm having fun…you?"

"Oh, yeah, this is great!" she responded. She brushed a piece of fallen hair away from her eyes.

"Where are Peter and James?" Amber asked.

"Uh-oh," Remus said.

At that moment, Peter and James came running up. "You…guys…might…want to…duck," James gasped, catching his breath. Knowing what was coming, all of them climbed under the table just in time, except for Frank. He was so busy watching Alice's scantily-clad body duck under the table that he forgot to duck in time himself.

When he finally tried to duck, he whacked his head on the table. Twice. "OW! Dammit!" he yelled, clutching his newest battle scar.

"Frankie, get under here now!" Alice called.

Frank got under the table just a second too late.

There was a loud BOOM followed by a splattering noise and cries of, "EEW!" from all of the girls in the room. An orange gooey mess coated the ground, and Frank's heavily bruised head. All four of the Marauders cracked up. Adriyana and Amber even smiled. Lily, however, looked upset, as did a lot of people in the room. They would probably lighten up when they found out that the Marauders had done it, like they always did.

A hollow pumpkin rolled under their table. Lily picked it up and examined it. It was time for a much-needed bashing of the male gender. "You know," she mused, "boys are a lot like pumpkins."

Adriyana and Amber grinned, knowing what was coming next. "How so?" Amber said.

"Well, their heads are empty, their brains are mush, and after a few days, they start to smell funny," Lily said and grinned.

The joke caused all the girls to laugh, and from the corner of her eye Lily saw a very offended looking James. Amber pointed to the staff table, where Dumbledore was calling for quiet, and the group turned their attention back to the pumpkin-splattered Great Hall.

"Who is responsible for this?" Dumbledore said, not without a hint of amusement.

James stood up proudly and saluted. As if he didn't already know.

After the dance, Adriyana and Sirius were saying goodnight in the common room. "I had…wow, I think the most fun in a long time tonight," Sirius told her.

"Me too, I'm so glad you asked me to be your date," she said.

"Well, I'm really glad you liked it. Do you want to come on another one with me?"

"Another date?"

"Yeah," he said with a grin.

"When?" she asked.

"Hogsmeade tomorrow, remember?" he said, grinning widely and pointing to the bulletin board on the wall.

"I'd love to!" She wondered vaguely how he had the power to make her act so stupid. She smiled nervously.

"Goodnight, Sirius," she said.

"Goodnight, Professor," he responded. Laughing, she returned to her rose-filled dormitory. Lily was the only one there, sitting on her bed and pulling off her red shoes.

"So, how'd it go?" she asked, tossing the shoes into the closet. 

"Brilliantly. He asked me to Hogsmeade tomorrow."

She smiled. "I knew he would. Plus Potter has detention. Life is good!"

Adriyana laughed, then ran over to her bed and collapsed on it, picking up her diary.

_Dear Diary,_

OHMERLIN'SBEARDITWASAMAZING!! He asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him tomorrow, and I said yes in a heartbeat--after I acted like a spaz, of course. Let me tell you though, it was hard enough keeping my "no kissing until the third date" rule tonight, but tomorrow? Good thing I've got that Dumbledore family optimism. 

Love ya,  
Adriyana 


	6. Chapter 6: Nicknames

Chapter 6: Nicknames, Interrupted Snogging Sessions, and Bittersweet Goodbyes

_Dear Diary,_

Or, more specifically, Adriyana's diary. I need my own, but I don't have any money for one now. Agie, I trust you not to read the rest of this. I needed to write it down and you're in the room, getting ready, so you could do the charm to open it for me. Today is the Hogsmeade trip, and Remus is going to take me into the Shrieking Shack. It's not really haunted, but it's where he goes when he…well, I still don't want to write that here. I'm flattered that he trusts me so much and that he wants to show me a part of such a…different side of him. A tiny bit of me is scared and even sad about what I may see, but the rest of me loves Remus and wants to learn as much about him as I can, and that part of him is one that I know very little about. I remember when he told me his secret. Every night that…he has to go there, I lay awake in bed, unable to sleep because I'm scared for my Remus so much, afraid that something is going to happen to him. Madam Pomfrey won't let me into the hospital wing to see him that day or a few days after, no matter how much I argue. And Adriyana calls it "Remus Withdrawal" and she thinks I'm just lonely. I just love him so much; I couldn't stand to see something terrible happen to him. If he got seriously hurt, I don't know what I'd do.

Yours truly,  
Amber

Dear Diary,

Now that I have freed you from Amber's clutches, I have about a minute to write something before my date, and I'm all done getting ready. My hair looks quite good straight (it better, as I spent nearly an hour doing it). Let's hope I can make it through date two without a kiss. I honestly doubt it, but I'll have to try. Who wants to have regrets about their first kiss in what they think will be an important relationship? Part of me (the bigger part) sort of wants to just give in and kiss him, but then I tell myself this is a lesson to him…and me. Sirius Black, eat your heart out.

Gotta go,   
Adriyana 

Sirius waited for Adriyana at the foot of the stairs. She came out right on time with Amber at her side. She had clearly put a lot of time into her looks, _for him,_ and she looked fantastic. She was wearing Muggle clothes, and her hair no longer fell in its trademark mess of waves, but was perfectly straight, and her purple shirt matched her eyes. He felt Remus' hand on his jaw, pushing it shut again. Amber giggled. "Remus, are you ready to go now?" she asked.

Adriyana sighed. "Am, you need a pet name for him. You guys have been going out for over two years now. Remus is too...formal."

"How about…Rem?" Sirius suggested, finally able to speak again. "Chopping off the last syllable almost always works."

"Nah, that sounds weird. Like a construction worker, or a really creepy looking house elf. It needs to be cutesier. Add something to the end. Rem…y," Adriyana said. Her face lit up. "Remy! That's it!"

"If you guys are done speculating over the fine mechanics of our relationship, we kind of have a date. Do you mind if we go now?" Remus said.

"No, I don't mind, as long as Am promises to call you Remy from now on," Adriyana said.

"Deal," said Amber. Everyone could tell she liked the name. Even Remus was grinning.

They left through the portrait hole, and Sirius called after them. "Bye Remy!" he said, blowing a kiss. Adriyana and James laughed.

A few minutes later, Sirius and Adriyana left too, traveling through the deserted halls together. Adriyana looked surprised when instead of going to the courtyard, Sirius pulled her down a different corridor. He stopped at a statue of a one-eyed witch.

"Um…Sirius? What exactly are you doing?" she asked.

He tapped the witch with his wand and muttered, "Dissendium!" Adriyana jumped back as the statue shifted, revealing a dark tunnel.

"Secret passage," he said. "The Marauders use this one all the time. I thought I'd give you the entire Sirius Black Dating Experience."

"Well, I'm flattered." She said, rolling her eyes and secretly hoping this passage wasn't just one of the Marauders' make-out spots or something. Not that she would mind much--stupid third date rule. He climbed into the hole. Always up for an adventure, she jumped in after him and lit her wand.

_Poor Remy… _

Amber sadly eyed the ripped and torn furniture, tattered curtains, and broken down doors and walls of the Shrieking Shack. She felt the tears well up in her eyes and squeezed Remus' hand tighter. He noticed the tears in her eyes and pulled her towards him.

"Star, do you want to leave? I mean, I know you wanted to come here, but I can't stand to see you cry," Remus said, wrapping his arms around her. He called her Star because she "lit up his night sky," and it fit so well with "Moony." A perfect match, just like them.

She said, "I'm fine. It's just…a good girlfriend helps her boyfriend through rough times in his life, and I can't be here for you during your transformations. I feel so terrible--"

"Hey, stop that. I wouldn't want you down here. It's way too dangerous. Besides, I love you so much and I couldn't ask for a better girlfriend, no matter what. It helps me to think that you're safe and warm back at the castle when I'm down here."

She sniffled and hugged him tighter. Her tears stopped falling.

"Are you sure you don't want to get something to eat?" he asked her.

"Well, now that you mention it, I wouldn't mind some chocolate at Honeydukes…"

As soon as the word "chocolate" had escaped her lips, he pulled her off, grinning.

Adriyana and Sirius sat down at a table in a restaurant on the Main Street of Hogsmeade. It was a bright and busy place with a very good environment. Adriyana was shocked that she had never been here or even heard of the place before. "So, Sirius, you probably take girls here all the time," she said, even though she was very afraid of what the answer could be.

He looked slightly offended but shook his head. "Nah, you're the first. I've only come here with the Marauders. Most girls want to go to Madam Puddifoot's." 

"Ugh. I can't stand that place. It's all…too pink," she shuddered.

He smiled at her. "Wow. I'm shocked. A girl who doesn't like pink…or watching other people snog."

She laughed. "Yeah, I'm the whole package," she said as she swirled her pumpkin juice straw around the glass and sighed.

"Yeah, you wish," he said.

She pulled the straw out of her drink and pointed it at his face. When she blew into it, he got sprayed with sticky orange pumpkin juice. She started laughing hysterically. In response, he shook his soaked hair, showering her right back. Adriyana saw a group of girls nearby watching them. Some had tears running down their faces, and one was bawling. Adriyana recognized her as Annie Moon, the girl who was sending her Howlers and was head of the Sirius Black Fan Club.

She jerked her thumb towards them. "Do they always follow you around on dates?" she said, somewhat jokingly.

"Sometimes. They have no life. Just ignore them," he said.

"Okay, I will," she said. She was having a great time on this date and wouldn't let his stupid fan club mess it up. She picked up her straw again and aimed it right at his perfectly tousled black hair, only to notice that he had just done the same thing to her.

She winked at him and then they both blew into the straws as hard as they could.

Lily was really glad that Alice had decided to hang out with her instead of Frank today. The two girls were having so much fun together, even though right now they were playing Lily's least favorite game, "Run away from Potter." Neither of them could blame him. All day with only Peter for company…how depressing. They ran aimlessly, until they realized that they had ended up in Honeydukes. Lily kept running and crashed right into Amber and Remus. Both of them were holding big bags full of candy, mostly chocolate.

"Run away from Potter?" Amber asked.

"Yeah," Lily said, nodding. Remus laughed as he pulled her up. "I think he bought me something and was trying to give it to me. Probably had Love Potion included." 

"Somehow, I don't think James would do that, Lily," said Remus. "He honestly likes you. A lot."

"Yeah, right, I'm just a challenge to him. He only likes me until I like him back," she said, and then quickly added, "which will never happen!"

"I don't know, Lily, James isn't giving up on you anytime soon," Remus said. Then, without another word, he and Amber exited the store, leaving a very confused Lily behind them. 

In Zonkos, Sirius was treating Adriyana to the _Sirius Black Highlights Tour_ of all his favorite items with a description of how he had used them. The stories he told were funny, if not a tad--well, a lot--egotistic, but still funny. Now he was holding up a bottle with a thick, opalescent, white potion inside.

"This is the magical glue we used to stick that git Thomas to the Great Hall ceiling. We also did a time-release charm so he would only become unattached when we undid the charm. You should have seen him cry when we put him up there…Merlin, what a spaz. We had to let him down after a few hours, though. Shame," he said. She laughed.

Sirius couldn't believe how easy it was to make her laugh. He loved her laugh. It wasn't a stupid girlish giggle like most girls, but a proper, "I'm really having fun" type of laugh. As she laughed, a piece of her hair fell into her face. It was starting to get wavy again, and was slightly brittle from the full-scale pumpkin juice war they'd had at the restaurant. He knew that there was no other girl who could mess up his hair like that and get away with it. It still looked awesome, of course.

After a while in the shop, the pair decided to buy a whole mess of fireworks for after the Quidditch game Tuesday. They were practically a shoo-in; they had never failed to beat Slytherin yet, and the team had never played better. Then again, that could just be Captain James and his bigheadedness rubbing off on them.

When they left the shop, it had started to rain. "Oh, crap. Here, I can put a charm on you so the rain wont hit you," Sirius said to Adriyana. "Just lean your head into me," he added, and patted his shoulder hopefully.

"Nice try. Besides, I love the rain!" she exclaimed. "Plus, I'm already soaked in pumpkin juice; rain can only make it better."

"This is true," he said with a grin. "So, where do you want to go next?" They'd already been to almost every shop. In the end, they decided to go to Honeydukes, buy some candy, and head back through the cellar. The rest of the students were already leaving, but they had all the time they wanted, thanks to the secret passageway.

The warm, sugary scent enveloped Adriyana as she and Sirius entered the tiny shop. Sirius bought what could have been his weight in candy. He had gotten Every-Flavour Beans, Sugar Quills, Chocolate Frogs, Ice Mice, and Fizzing Whizzbees, along with a bunch of other different sweets. He promised to share it with her. She also bought her fair share of candy, including stuff for her friends, especially Alice, who had developed an obsession with Drooble's Best Blowing Gum. The four girls had invented a game, where they shoved whole packets of the gum in their mouths and tried to blow the biggest bubble. It was sticky, drooling, somewhat gross fun, and Adriyana loved it.

As they descended the steps to the basement, she saw Sirius looking at her from the side, and she tried to look extra cute, but unfortunately, she didn't notice the box of Toothflossing Stringmints on the steps in front of her. She tripped over it, falling down the rest of the stairs. Most girls would have run away, crying in embarrassment, and part of her wanted to do just that, but she didn't. Instead she laughed.

Sirius ran down the rest of the steps as fast as he could to get to her. He found her laughing on the ground, covered in the mints, and once she told him he was fine and he helped her up, he couldn't help but laugh along with her. "Smooth…" he gasped through his laughter. She gave him a playful shove as they headed for the cellar door.

"Here it is," Remus said, as he pointed at the statue of the one-eyed witch.

"This is your ultra-secret passage?" Amber asked him, tugging nervously her necklace, a chain which had an amber stone in the shape of a heart. Remus had given it to her for her birthday.

In response, he opened the hole to the passageway. Amber had told him about how worried she got about him when he transformed, and he felt so bad, he wanted to find a place to…just be alone with her, to talk. He knew they wouldn't be disturbed here. Plus, the full moon was coming, and he wouldn't see her all day tomorrow, unless she convinced Madam Pomfrey to let her into the hospital wing this time. 

Once she was safely in the tunnel, he climbed in after her. It was dark and kind of creepy in the tunnel, so he lit his wand and set it on the ground. "Star, what's wrong?" he said. She was looking down in a depressed way.

"Remy, I was just thinking about what happens to you on full moons. It must be so terrible, and I can't even be there for you."

"I'd rather you not, actually. I'd probably bite you and…" His voice cracked. 

"Well, I worry about you back up at the castle. I wish there was some way I knew you'd be okay," she said.

"Hey. As long as I still have you, I'll always be okay. Remember that," he said. And he kissed her deeply. The kiss got stronger and stronger, and soon, they got lost in their own world, free of Lycanthropy and all of their other worries, free of everything except for them. Her fingers were tangled in his hair and his in hers. They could have stayed like that forever, but then--

"Moony, mate, sorry to bother you but you're blocking the exit,"

Amber screamed and jumped about a foot in the air in shock, which was hard because she was so close to Remus, and he accidentally pulled on her golden hair rather hard because his fingers were so tangled in it. They turned, looking at Sirius and Adriyana; both were holding their lit wands in the air and looking rather guilty and uncomfortable.

"So this IS a secret Marauder make-out spot!" Remus heard Adriyana whisper. He would have thought it funny if he wasn't so embarrassed.

They moved out of the way quickly and Adriyana and Sirius scuttled out. Remus saw Adriyana wink at Amber as she left, but it didn't bother him. The girl winked so much she might as well have an eye twitch. As the passage began to close again, Remus and Amber laughed as they saw the two of them bolting down the corridor to Gryffindor tower as fast as they could. After they were out of sight, she turned back to face him. 

"Well, THAT was supremely awkward," Adriyana said, as she and Sirius plopped down on the comfiest couch in the common room, right by the fire.

"What?" said James, who was playing wizard chess on the coffee table with Frank. Lily and Alice were watching and cheering Frank on, while Peter was cheering for James.

Adriyana said, "None of your business," at the same time Sirius said, "We walked in on Moony and Carmichael snogging."

She turned to him. "You have the sensitivity of sandpaper, Sirius," she said, though she said it with a grin.

James grinned. "Shouldn't you call him 'Siri' now? Chopping off the last syllable almost always works," he said mockingly, as a stupid-looking smile spread across his face. 

She laughed. "Actually, I like that one," she grinned. "Siri…" Sirius banged his head on the table. "You don't like Siri?" Adriyana asked.

"What? I'm just trying to get the image of the two of them snogging out of my mind. They were REALLY going at it!" he wailed. Lily threw some of the Bertie Botts' Every-Flavour Beans she was eating at him and he slammed his head into the table again. "I mean, they didn't even notice we were there for, like, five minutes! We had to stand there and watch! I feel so…violated!" he said.

"It was like…they were trying to eat each other!" Adriyana said, squeezing her eyes shut. Everyone laughed, and they continued talking until Remus and Amber came back through the portrait hole, a little red-faced and embarrassed and with very tangled hair, but smiling.

"Have fun, you guys?" James asked, raising his eyebrows. Amber glared at Adriyana, who pointed at Sirius. He grinned guiltily.

"We should probably get to bed now, guys," Remus said to the other three Marauders. "We have a big night…er, day…tomorrow." Amber looked at him, a very concerned expression spreading across her face.

"I should get to bed, too," she said. "I won't sleep tomorrow."

Amber and all of The Marauders except for Sirius headed up to bed. Adriyana cast a look at Frank, Alice, and Lily. Getting the hint, they all decided to go to bed too, though Lily left rather reluctantly. Adriyana immediately regretted telling her about the third date rule. Still, she left Adriyana and Sirius in the empty common room, sitting very close to each other on the same couch.

"Well, thanks for that, Siri. I had an amazing day," Adriyana said, turning to face him, noticing how close he was.

"Me too," he whispered in a raspy voice, as he moved his head even closer to hers.

Bells and sirens went off in Adriyana's head. Was she going to follow her pride and wait until the third date, or follow her desires and just kiss him now? She tried as hard as she could to fight it, but she couldn't. She didn't want to. She looked at him; he was drawing closer and closer to her by the moment. The glowing fire illuminated his handsome face and his eyes shone with desire in the flickering light. Something about _this moment_ seemed special, different, perfect.

She felt her head move in along with his.

_'You should stop now, Sirius,'_ his head was telling him. _'You should let her make the first move. You don't even know if this is what she wants.'_

'Shut up. Look, her head is moving closer, too. She wants this just as badly as I do, if that's possible.' 

He could see the dark violet speckles that glittered in the otherwise bright amethyst of her eyes. Her lips were so full and soft. He couldn't believe he was actually, after months of waiting, going to kiss her. Their lips were almost touching now. He could feel the heat coming off of her face. He tilted his head to the right. She did the same. It was going to happen…just a little closer… 

"Agie, are you coming?" Lily's stern voice traveled down the stairs.

Adriyana jumped away from him as if she had been electrocuted.

"Agie, are you coming?" she heard Lily call.

_'Bloody hell, Lily!'_ Adriyana thought as she jumped away from Sirius._ 'Why did I have to tell her about the third date rule?'_ She willed herself not to look at Sirius' face; his soft raven-black hair was now falling into his electrifying grey eyes, so full of pain and confusion that her heart skipped a few beats. She felt tears beginning to form in the corners of her enormous eyes. He looked so desperate, so lost. They both wanted this so badly, and she wanted to let it happen, but now, she couldn't. The moment was gone.

He looked up at her, head still tilted to the side. _Merlin, why does he have to look so bloody gorgeous? And why the hell am I about to cry? _

He stood up from the couch, facing her, and took her hands and squeezed them gently. She looked down and hoped that he wouldn't try to kiss her again. He couldn't, not now. She didn't exactly know why, but whatever it was, he had to feel it, too. There was no more magic in the air. Didn't Sirius see that? She wanted her first kiss with him to be…worth waiting for, a kiss that she would have no regrets about, that she wouldn't want to try and fight, at a time when she knew Lily wouldn't come barging down the stairs any minute, or make her regret what had happened with a disapproving glare for breaking her promise. She was so confused, but one thing she did know was that the time…wasn't now.

She pulled away from him, gave him a smile, whispered a goodbye, and turned for the staircase before he could see the tears that were now silently spilling down her cheeks. 

"Adriyana, wait--" he called after her as she ran up the stairs. But she kept running, ready to add a very tear-stained entry to her diary and extremely glad she had bought so much chocolate. 


	7. Chapter 7: The Quidditch Field is Sacred

Hey, everyone! So sorry I forgot to put a disclaimer on the past 6 chapters of this fic. I momentarily forgot that I don;t own Harry Potter. XD

Disclaimer: I obviously do NOT own Harry Potter, if I did...I would be a millionaire by now and not a highschool student who's currently broke.

Well, enjoy the story people! And don't forget to write review!!!

* * *

Chapter 7: Please Keep Your Sexual Tension OFF The Quidditch Field!

_Diary, _

_I almost broke my three-date promise tonight. Funny thing is, I wanted to. I really wanted to. I'm sure Siri did too. I saw it in his eyes. He's still calling my name from the foot of the stairs. What happened is sort of a blur; I just know that shortly after Lily called me, I ran from the room in tears, which are still running down my face. The whole thing is so confusing. I don't even know why I'm crying, but I do know that my so called best friends haven't even asked me what's wrong yet. I have no shoulder to cry on. I'm shoulderless. I wish I had Siri's shoulder, but no. I'm too busy crying my eyes out for some unknown reason and stuffing my face with the Chocolate Frogs, also known as my only friends. Maybe I'll write Siri in the morning. I'll go work on my letter once I stop crying. Oh, look. I have stopped. I should go wash my face off. _

_Love,  
Adriyana_

_P.S. - My other (human) friends are coming over to hug me now. Looks like my friendship circle is not limited to chocolates. _

Sunday morning, Sirius was getting dressed when the space in front of his bed… spontaneously combusted. No, really, a ball of flames erupted in front of his bed. What's more, a bird flew out of the fireball, carrying a letter. Peter almost peed himself in fright. Sirius would have laughed if he wasn't too busy wondering why the only girl he had ever cared about was running away from him. He knew he should have waited, but truthfully, he would explode if he waited any longer to kiss her. Then she ran. She must have thought he was the same guy he'd been trying so hard not to be.

"Hey, Ash, what's Agie got to say?" James said to the bird. Sirius' stomach filled with butterflies at the sound of her name. He hadn't told the rest of the Marauders what had happened last night, in fact, he wasn't sure he even knew. Then he remembered that Adriyana had a phoenix, and he noticed that the letter this phoenix was holding was addressed to him. His name was written on the front of the envelope. In purple ink.

He darted over to the bird as fast as he could, ripped the letter from its claws and tore it open:

_Siri, _

_If you're as confused as I am about last night then you must be…exceptionally confused. I'm sorry for running off on you; I didn't exactly mean to do that. I just wanted to tell you that…I don't want you to think I didn't want to kiss you last night. That would be one of the biggest misconceptions in history. I really like you, and I have so much fun with you, Siri, and unless you're lying to me, you have fun with me, too. My point is, I really, really want to go on a third date with you. Really. As soon as possible… let's just say I'm tired of waiting._

_-Adriyana _

Sirius stared at the letter, open-mouthed, but thrilled.

_Tired of waiting? She did want to kiss me! _

Sirius put on his clothes and, an hour later, headed down to the Great Hall where he saw Adriyana sitting with Amber, Lily, and Alice eating breakfast. There was a spot next to her that was empty, and he hurried over to it. The other three Marauders came a few minutes later, and joined the group. The eight of them enjoyed what, in Sirius' opinion, was the best breakfast ever, especially because he and Adriyana kept exchanging secret glances and smiles. When the owls came in, James' owl brought him a parcel of cookies from his mum, and then (on James' command) flew over Snape's cereal and pooped in it. The icing on the cake, however, was when a huge flock of post owls came in, and dropped about a dozen Howlers in front of Adriyana. She burst out laughing. Sirius felt a rush of guilt. No doubt they were from his stupid admirers, saying he was too good for her, or something equally ridiculous.

"Agie, you really should open those," James said, with a wicked grin. He loved anything that caused a scene.

Sirius glared at Annie Moon, who was staring at him admiringly from the Ravenclaw table. He made a very rude hand gesture at her and she burst into tears. His angry expression melted into a soft one as he turned to Adriyana. "I can't believe she keeps doing this, Agie," he told her sympathetically.

"I keep telling you, I think these are hilarious. Wait until you hear them."

"I don't want to, though," he responded.

It looked like a light bulb went off in her head. She handed each of the eight of them, along with some nearby Gryffindors, one of the Howlers. "Well, this doesn't take a genius. Lets all open ours at the same time, since Siri doesn't want to hear them. The shouts should all cancel each other out," she said. At that moment, the Howlers started to smoke at the edges. "Ready... NOW!" and they all broke the seals on their letters.

The noise was deafening. Thankfully, Adriyana was right. None of the words the letters screamed out were even merely distinguishable over the screams of the other letters. The goblets around them all fell over, spilling pumpkin juice on the clean white tablecloth. The windows shook violently. The eight of them would have gone deaf, had they not all cast Bubble-Head Charms around their heads to filter out the noise, and Sirius looked at Adriyana. When she winked at him, he felt his insides do a flip-flop. Then he looked up at the staff table. McGonagall did not look amused. In fact, she was still searching for the person who sent the Howlers. She was the only one in the Great Hall not to cover her ears somehow, and was listening intently to the screams, trying to identify the voice of the culprit. She caught Sirius' eye, and he pointed directly at Annie. A scandalized look spread across McGonagall's face, and once the Howlers had stopped McGonagall got up and pulled Annie out of the hall. More indistinguishable screaming ensued. The only thing they heard was, "Ten points from Ravenclaw for every Howler you sent!" There was a collective "Ohhhhh," from the students from Hufflepuff and Gryffindor as a rather large amount of sapphires left the Ravenclaw bulb, leaving it nearly empty, save for a few tiny gems. Needless to say, Annie was not welcomed back very heartily at the Ravenclaw table. In fact, people started throwing porridge at her. Nobody tried to stop them.

Sirius looked over at Adriyana, and her lopsided grin made his hear flutter. Definitely the best breakfast ever.

It seemed like two days passed in no time at all, though they were a dateless, kissless two days for a certain couple. The morning of the game, all of the sixth-year Gryffindors were sitting back down at the same table again, Amber, Adriyana, James, and Sirius in their scarlet Quidditch robes, because it was Lila (the Keeper)'s idea to wear them around all day to intimidate the Slytherins.

Sirius watched as Adriyana got up from her spot in between Amber and Lily and picked up her plate. Since he had been hanging around with her a lot over the last two days, he fully expected her to move next to him. He was, however, sadly mistaken. She kept walking down the aisle; just a little farther down the table sat a scarlet-clad Joey Abercrombie, Sirius' fellow Beater. He looked more than a little worse for the wear (a bit like Moony looked today, because the full moon had been on Sunday). Joey was as pale as a ghost and didn't appear to be eating any breakfast. Adriyana walked over to them and plopped herself down between him and his friend, dropping her plate decisively, as if she did this everyday.

Joey's friends looked pretty surprised to see someone like Adriyana sit down with them. People like Adriyana didn't sit with third years, but Adriyana wasn't most people. She just waved at them and started piling food on Joey's plate nonchalantly and trying to feed it to him. Sirius motioned to James, and they both got up and moved down there as well.

"Joey, you have to eat something," said James consolingly as he sat down.

"I can't. What if I throw up?"

"That's a good thing!" Sirius added.

"Yeah, make sure you're flying over a Slytherin," Adriyana added. The third years (especially the boys, whether they had sick minds or just liked Adriyana) started laughing. "What? We can't get fouled for that! It's a brilliant plan, if I do say so myself!"

While Joey had his mouth open, laughing, she shoved a forkful of sausage in it. He sputtered but reluctantly swallowed it. She wasted no time in shoving in another forkful.

"You're not eating anyfing!" Joey exclaimed through his forced meal.

She grabbed a piece of toast off of the table and ate it. "Happy?" She said, "Plus, I already ate. I was here earlier."

Then they heard Remus' hoarse (from howling? Who knows?) voice down the table. "What are you guys doing down there?"

"We're eating with our new midget friends!" James called. Adriyana kicked him in the shin under the table. "Ow! What?"

"They're not midgets, James! Be nice!"

He looked at them and shrugged. Adriyana shoved more food in Joey's mouth. "Okay, I get it! I'll eat!" Then he picked up his own fork and ate some eggs. "Hmmmm?" he said. She looked satisfied and nodded.

"Hurry up, we have to be out there soon," James said. "Are you two ready to go?" he pointed to Adriyana and Sirius.

They nodded and stood up. Adriyana motioned to Amber down the table, and she said goodbye to everyone and joined them as they walked out of the Great Hall. "Ready, guys?" she asked as she joined them.

"Yeah! They are so going down!" Adriyana said, jumping so that a few long maple tresses fell into her face.

James and Sirius agreed. Adriyana brushed the hair away from her eyes and Amber giggled. "What?" Adriyana asked her, confused.

"You're right. Red looks really bad with your eyes," Amber said, pointing at the scarlet Quidditch robes Adriyana wore.

"Fine, red is not my color! Is 'Insult Adriyana Time' over yet?" she said, throwing her hands up in the air. Sirius bit his lip, and the four of them got their brooms from their trunks in Gryffindor Tower and headed out to the field.

Joey Abercrombie looked a lot better when Sirius saw him again in the locker room for James' pep talk, and he had brought extra toast for all of them and told the three of them that his friend said that he wanted the three of them to eat there every day. Sirius felt a twinge of jealousy, remembering how the boys had been drooling over Adriyana. He still wanted his kiss so badly he thought he would burst.

The Gryffindor team walked onto the field to tumultuous applause, and took their places on the field. The Slytherin team looked menacing, but none of the Gryffindors were intimidated, except Joey and possibly Amber, as it was her first game as well. She relaxed a bit when she heard Remus' voice over the speakers:

"And here's the Gryffindor team. They have just two new members this year, Joey Abercrombie and Star…er, I mean Amber Carmichael."

Adriyana seemed to have collapsed on the field, laughing. Amber was blushing too much to glare at her, but her face was nothing compared to Remus', which, thankfully, nobody could see.

The two girls regained their composure and took their places on the field. James walked up to the Slytherin captain and they shook hands (which really looked more like they were trying to crush each other's fingers), and then the game was on.

"AND IT'S PRONGS WITH THE QUAFFLE! HE'S HEADING TOWARDS THE SLYTERIN GOALPOASTS! HE SHOOTS…AND SCORES! GRYFFINDOR NOW LEADS BY ONE HINDERED AND FORTY POINTS! ALL RIGHT, PRONGS!"

Remus' voice rang out over the pitch, but Adriyana was too busy squinting around for the glint of gold that was the Snitch to hear anything except the score. Adriyana was aware of the fact that the lead they had wasn't big enough so to ensure Gryffindor a victory should she fail to catch the Snitch. On the bright side, she almost never missed, and all the Gryffindors were playing amazingly, so there was bound to be some celebration even if they lost. Ten of their goals had been scored by James, and Sirius and Joey had hit some ace Bludgers, though Joey sadly had yet to vomit on anyone. Amber was doing great for her first game, she had scored five goals. As for Adriyana herself-

_The Snitch. There's the Snitch. _

She sped after it, hand outstretched. She heard a whooshing noise behind her. She knew it was the Slytherin Seeker. He rammed her from the side and she rammed him back. They were about a foot away from the Snitch, both were neck and neck, hands outstretched, reaching for the fluttering ball. Then she remembered. _James' play_. It would work _perfectly_ here. She whipped her head around, looking for Sirius and hitting the Slytherin Seeker with her long hair at the same time. When she saw him she screamed his name.

"SIRIUS!!" He whirled around at the sound of her voice and almost fell off his broom. She made a hand signal with the one hand not outstretched towards the Snitch. He immediately understood, and from the corner of her eye, she saw Sirius whack a Bludger with all his might towards the two battling Seekers.

What happened next was as if it was in slow motion. Adriyana, who was closest to the Bludger, stopped reaching for the Snitch and did a sort of handstand on her broom in the air. The Bludger flew through the empty space her arm had occupied a split second ago and slammed into the Slytherin Seeker, knocking him far off course. Adriyana did a flip back onto her broom, and her hand landed right on the Snitch, closing over it. She raised her hand in the air triumphantly.

She wasn't paying attention to just how closely the crowd was watching that play. As soon as her Snitch-filled fist was raised into the air, the stands erupted. She could barely hear Remus' calls of "ADRIYANA CAUGHT THE SNITCH! THAT WAS AMAZING! HOLY CRAP!" -—McGonagall was too happy to reprimand him--"GRYFFINDOR WINS THREE HUNDERD AND FIFTY TO SIXTY! HA! FACE! GO ADRIYANA! GO PADFOOT!" over the fans' voices. She was grinning from ear to ear, and Gryffindor was celebrating like it had won the cup, not just a game. As she went to join her team, celebrating in the center of the field, she realized that this was one of the best moments of her life.

And only one thing would make it better.

She landed and ran up to the team. James was screaming about her amazing utilization of the play, tears threatening their appearance in his eyes, Amber, Lila, and Liz seemed to have started some sort of cheer/dance. Joey was bouncing around, re-enacting the look on the Slytherin Seeker's face when she caught the Snitch. Sirius was just standing there, waiting for her.

Perhaps he had waited long enough. She had made up her mind.

She ran into his arms, and he pulled her into a tight hug. After a second, she pulled away slightly, wrapping her arms around his neck. She looked into his smoldering grey eyes and ran her fingers through his silky black hair. She smiled. Then, suddenly, she brought her lips to his and finally, finally kissed him.

Sirius was absolutely shocked, but this was also the best kiss he had ever had. It was sweet but at the same time deep and passionate and even somewhat romantic, like a first kiss should be. Plus, he really liked surprises, not to mention how much he liked Adriyana. He could tell from the kiss that she had wanted it just as badly as he had.

There was a gasp from the stands, but neither of them heard it. Then James started clapping for both of them. Joey was the first one to join him. Soon nearly everyone was clapping, including Albus Dumbledore, who didn't seem to mind his granddaughter kissing someone in the middle of a Quidditch pitch. The pair still didn't notice. Amber looked slightly shocked that Adriyana's first kiss was so public…but then, that's the type of person she was. If she decided it was time to kiss Sirius, nothing else mattered.

As Sirius pulled away and looked into Adriyana's eyes, glittering blissfully, he could see that clearly nothing else did.

Later that night, in the common room, Gryffindor was celebrating its amazing win by having a totally bitchin' party. Someone had magicked a dance floor into the middle of the common room, where Lily had set up a device that played Muggle records, and, courtesy of the Marauders, there was an obscene amount of food and beverages. Frank, who had a magical camera, had taken pictures of the highlights of the game, such as when James had bounced the Quaffle off of Steven Higgs' head and it went through a hoop and scored, Lila's phenomenal save where she caught the Quaffle between her feet, Adriyana and Sirius' now legendary play, and, of course, the kiss.

Adriyana was dancing with Lily when Sirius pulled her arm and asked her if she would take a walk with him. Lily motioned for her to go, and she nodded eagerly. They left the common room.

They kept walking until they reached the grounds, sharing a comfortable silence. The sky was dark but had a heavy splattering of stars. It was chilly out, which wasn't so inconceivable, as it was November. Sirius took his cloak off and put it on Adriyana's shoulders. He was now freezing, but it was worth it, because when Adriyana saw how cold he was, she wrapped her arms around him tightly. Now she could probably tell how fast his heart was beating. She was looking up at him now, and her hand reached up and brushed the fallen ebony hair out of his eyes.

"You have the most brilliant eyes, Siri," she said, running her hand down his cheek. If his heart beat any quicker, it would most likely explode.

He looked back into the glittering violet eyes that were staring at him. "Are you kidding me? Your eyes are beautiful," he said. He saw her smile in the darkness.

He squeezed her hand, and noticed that it was trembling slightly. He doubted it was because of the cold that she was shaking. He pressed his lips on top of hers, moving them softly. His hands traveled to her hair, and got tangled in the messy waves. He breathed in her scent--a mixture of peppermint, vanilla, strawberry shampoo, and the faint perfume of red roses. He loved how her lips felt against his, he reveled in their softness and sweetness as he felt her hands wrap around his neck and pull him in closer to her. They lost track of time as they stood together, just them and the stars.

When Lily saw Adriyana and Sirius return through the portrait hole, grinning and holding hands over an hour after they had left, she was actually glad her friend had broken her promise. Adriyana hadn't stopped glowing all day. Apparently Sirius wasn't as bad as Lily had thought. Anyone who could make Adriyana that happy had to have more than a little good in them.

The Gryffindors kept partying until around midnight, when McGonagall woke up (probably thanks to Adriyana and Sirius' fireworks show, which was so cool it made up for being the cause of the stop to the party), came in and cleared them out, reminding them of the classes they still had tomorrow. They left reluctantly, Lily watched as Adriyana gave Sirius a quick kiss goodnight and then head for the stairs, much happier than she had looked the last time she had been in that situation. Before she left, Lily saw her take the poster of the kiss from James, because he and Peter were sneaking a copy of all the posters to the Slytherin common room, to "add a splash of red and gold," and took it up to their dormitory. James and Peter walked past Lily, muttering something about a Permanent Sticking Charm. Lily decided that maybe now was a good time to head up to her dormitory, before she exploded. When she walked into their room, Adriyana was hanging the poster on the wall.

"Agie…" she began, laughing and shaking her head.

"Hey, I like it. If you don't then maybe we can get that one of James up here so you can stare at that all day. Besides, it matches the roses," she said, pointing to the red robes her photographic self and Sirius were wearing and then motioned towards the room still filled with Sirius' roses. The girls loved them so much, for their smell, their beauty, and their welcoming presence. They would be happy if they never died, which may actually happen, knowing Sirius.

"What?! I do not like Potter!" Lily said, her temper rising.

"Sure, whatever…" Adriyana said unconvincingly, collapsing on her bed and pulling out her diary.

_Dear Diary,_

_New rule: Quidditch games count as third dates. After all, we were both playing together, right? Siri is a phenomenal kisser, like, better than all the guys I've ever dated put together (which is not an incredible amount, but still). I don't want to think about whether he's a natural or just well practiced. Lily still won't admit that she likes James, which she clearly does. Someone should inform her that denial is not just a river in Egypt (get it? Denial, the Nile? I crack myself up sometimes). She would probably slap the person who told her, though. She's so stubborn. I got around to trusting Siri pretty quickly. Maybe I'm just weak, or maybe I need to devise a brilliant plan to get them together… Maybe Siri can help. Maybe I can do that later. Sorry, I'll stop now. Maybe._

_Love and Kisses (finally!),  
Adriyana_

* * *

_A/N: Hoowweee...Siri and Agie FINALLY got together. It was fun to write this chapter...heavy dose of bloody romance on my part. Lily's still in denial on her undying love for Jamesie...  
_

_ A chocolate chip cookie to all of those who reviewed...XD_

_ I accept constructive criticisms, honestly, I do._

_READ AND REVIEW OR ELSE I'LL SEND VOLDY AFTER YOU...teehee  
_


	8. Chapter 8: Denial

Chapter 8: Stage 1: Denial (It's NOT Just a River in Egypt)

_Dear Diary,_

There is NO WAY I like James Potter. Agie seems to think I do. I guess she hasn't been listening to me for the last five years, and seems to think I still have that little girly crush I had on Potter during our first year, before I realized what a prat he was. How could I possibly have liked someone so arrogant and self-centered? I mean, guys are afraid to date me. I have what Agie calls the "James Potter Factor." Guys think that if they ask me on a date, they'll end up being the victim of the Marauders' latest prank, such as getting glued to the ceiling. Fine, so I was wrong about Sirius, he's actually not so bad, but what could anyone possibly see in James Potter? Okay, so he's brave, good at Quidditch, and rather fit looking. Big deal. Wait, did I just write that?

Going to wash my mouth out with soap,  
Lily

Dear Diary,

I still can't believe he's finally mine. All mine! I would have never thought Sirius Black would be the first guy like me for ME…In fact, I think I'm the first girl he's ever done that for. If only you could see the stupid grin on my face right now, but once again we run into the issue of you being and inanimate object. Oh, and Lily has been acting rather strangely lately, like she's distracted. She clearly had a thing for someone. I suspect this someone to be James; otherwise she'd tell me her crush's identity. I don't even think she sees it yet, though (either that or she's drowning in The Nile…I'm good). For the smartest girl in our year (and possibly the whole school), there sure are a lot of things she doesn't realize.

Love,  
Adriyana 

Lily sat on her bed that morning, already fully dressed. She was checking her Potions essay for errors before class. She had finished the essay the day it was assigned, but hadn't gotten to looking it over yet because Adriyana had "borrowed" it. Seeing no errors, Lily tucked the essay back into her school bag and looked around the room. Amber was still asleep, and Lily had no inclination to wake her up. She was rather fond of all of her body parts being in their right places, thank-you-very-much. Amber was NOT a morning person, to put it lightly.

As Lily stared at Amber, Adriyana walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, hair dripping wet from the shower. The grin she was wearing seemed to be permanently stuck on her face ever since the Quidditch game. She grabbed her Hogwarts uniform and closed herself in the curtains around her bed (people tended to barge into their room, mostly younger girls in need of advice). And, of course, as Adriyana changed, Alice came back into the dormitory, swinging the door wide open enthusiastically. She had just come back from meeting Frank in the common room. He was excellent at Charms and was helping her with the assignment that was due that day. It was no surprise to any of them that Alice had put it off until a few hours before it was due, procrastinator that she was.

"Morning, all!" she said cheerfully, looking at the schedule of classes the girls had posted on the wall. She let out a squeal of delight. "Only double Charms and DADA today. Oh, and History of Magic. Bugger."

"Well, at least I can get some sleep there, I'm so tired," Adriyana said, jumping out from behind the curtains of her bed, wearing her uniform and trying to properly knot her red and gold tie. She picked up the Quick-Quotes Quill she always brought to History of Magic and threw it in her bag.

"Er…do you guys reckon we should wake Amber?" Lily asked, jerking her thumb toward the sleeping figure in the fourth bed.

"Yeah… I'll do it," Alice said, and Adriyana tossed her an aerosol can with a little plastic horn on top of it. "I can't believe this is the only way to wake her up," she said. She hopped onto Amber's bed, brought the horn somewhat close to her face, and pushed down on the button. A loud honking noise resonated throughout the room. One of the vases of roses on the dresser fell, and luckily Lily caught it. Amber scrunched up her face and tumbled out of bed, pillow pulled around her ears. She let out a piercing scream before tumbling out of bed and swearing loudly at all of them.

Remus heard the scream all the way from the boys' dorm. "Amber?" he called, jumping about a foot in the air. After all, werewolf ears are sensitive, especially when it comes to love.

"Chill out, mate, the girls use an air horn to wake her up. They showed me last summer, when my parents were out on an Auror mission, and I stayed at Agie's with them. Nothing else does it. She like…hibernates," James told him, unsuccessfully trying to comb his black hair. Remus seemed to calm down and he smiled dreamily at the thought of his Amber sleeping peacefully, eyelashes fluttering, her golden hair fanned over her pillow.

Sirius was tying his Gryffindor tie with a huge smile on his face. He looked in the mirror. His black hair was tousled and his grey eyes shone brightly, like they had been ever since Adriyana had kissed him.

"Thinking about her, mate?" James asked.

"She's an amazing kisser," Sirius responded, as if this was the answer he was looking for. "Don't you guys think we make a great couple? I do."

"I bet Lily's a great kisser, too," James said. He didn't really want to think about Adriyana that way; she was like a sister to him, and she had been his best friend until he met Sirius and the other Marauders.

Peter walked into the room to see his three friends zoned out, with stupid and delirious grins on their faces. "Oh, bugger. I REALLY need a girlfriend," he said.

James snapped out of it. "Wormtail, if you ever get a girlfriend, I'll eat ten Galleons worth of Cockroach Clusters." There was a specific reason girls didn't like Peter. He was reasonably good-looking, and wasn't always as daft as he looked…the rest of the Marauders just overshadowed him most of the time. No. the reason girls avoided Peter was because he smelled like moldy cheese. Gross. Though, James resolved, Peter was his friend, and now that the other three Marauders were taken (he counted himself because he wouldn't date anyone but Lily) he had a fair shot.

Now if only they could get him to use some cologne or something.

"Siri! Where are you?" Adriyana's voice sounded from the foot of the stairs, and Sirius bolted for the door. 

James shook his head. "Oh, Padfoot."

He started laughing and finished getting dressed. Ten minutes later, the other three boys went down the stairs to find Adriyana and Sirius snogging on the couch. "Not fond of privacy, those two," Remus said to James. Adriyana's eyes opened in shock at the voice, she jumped up, and the red rose tucked behind her ear fell to the floor. Sirius took the time while she bent down to pick it up to glare at Remus, who started whistling innocently.

"Chill, Siri, we have to go to class, anyway," she said, as she fixed the rose back into her hair. Lily motioned to her from the door. Usually the girls and the Marauders walked to class with their own gender groups. "Catch you guys on the flip side," Adriyana said as she gave Sirius a quick kiss and ran after them.

After lunch, Adriyana was walking to History of Magic when she felt a set of arms wrap around her from behind. They felt strangely unfamiliar, definitely not Sirius' arms. She realized who it was when she saw the person's blue and grey tie dangling in front of her face. She saw Sirius run up to them, looking disgusted.

"What's shakin', baby?" came a husky voice in her ear.

"Thomas, get the hell off me! Can't you take a hint? They haven't been very discreet or anything!" she yelled, wriggling around in his arms and trying to break free, but he did not relent. Her hand traveled to her pocket and wrapped tightly around her wand, but he was too thick to notice. Sirius pulled out his wand, too, though he wasn't so sure what to do. Adriyana was moving around so fast while trying to escape Thomas' grip that he could easily hit her with any spell he tried to throw at him.

Adriyana finally broke out of his arms and ran back to Sirius, who put his arms around her. A tingling sensation went up her spine at the touch, but she was also relived to feel his warm and familiar embrace and she pulled him tighter for a second.

"So…you have a boyfriend now," Broderick said, glaring at Sirius. Adriyana looked up at Broderick.

"That's right," Adriyana said, feeling a swooping sensation in her stomach. _Boyfriend._ She smiled.

"Do you mess around?" he asked her.

"What?!...No!!" she said incredulously. Sirius lifted his wand again.

"Well, would you--" but he was cut off when a blast of light shot from Sirius' wand and hit him in the face. His dark brown hair turned into what looked like really enlarged worms. Broderick, who was a total coward, started running around, screaming, and trying to pull them out of his head. It was quite a sight.

"Leave her the bloody hell alone!" Sirius yelled over Broderick's girly screams.

Adriyana had had enough of this. She wanted so badly for Broderick to just leave her alone. She pulled out a weird-looking marker from her bag and motioned Thomas over to her with her finger seductively. He gave Sirius a victorious grin and walked over. He didn't see her wink at Sirius and was thoroughly shocked when she pushed him up against the wall because he really was that naive.

"Close your eyes," she whispered, and he did. She put the marker to his forehead and managed to write some rather rude phrases in her bubbly letters before he noticed what was happening and pulled away.

She and Sirius took off down the hall. She turned back to him as she ran and yelled, "It's permanent marker, dude!"

They walked into History of Magic together, which they had with the Ravenclaws, and took their usual seats next to Lily and James, respectively. Adriyana took out her Quick-Quotes Quill and put her head down on her desk.

Class was very boring today. What a surprise. Adriyana's Quill was scribbling away and she seemed to be asleep. Sirius was staring at her, the way her hair fell over her face, the way her lips were pulled into a smile, even when she slept. Suddenly, one of her vibrant eyes popped open and her smile grew wider. She winked at him and mouthed, "Busted!" He jumped back, surprised that she had caught him staring.

He ripped off a piece of his parchment (which he wasn't using to take notes anyway) and wrote her a message. He balled it up and threw it. She caught it easily and opened it.

_Maybe I was just staring at you because you have a huge bogey hanging out of your nose!_

Really she didn't, but it was a laugh to see her hand reach up and brush her nose with her sleeve. When she realized there was nothing there, Sirius started laughing. She scowled at him, and then smiled. She dipped her regular, manual quill into the pot of violet ink next to her and wrote:

_You were still staring at me!_

She pointed to the note, and then to him and Sirius aimed his wand at it.

_"Accio Parchment!"_The note came zooming over as he said the charm. He read it and smiled at her use of purple ink. He put his own quill to the page and wrote a response underneath hers.

_Do you want to go to the kitchens tonight?_

But when Adriyana got the note, that wasn't what it said. The piece of paper she opened had no remnants of their previous conversation, just a single message in a handwriting that looked a lot like Sirius', but she didn't think it was. First of all, he had spelled her name wrong. Also, she highly doubted he would say what was on this note:

_Adriana, you're so obnoxious. This really isn't working out for me. _

Sirius couldn't have written this, he just couldn't. He wouldn't say something like that. He wouldn't even spell her name wrong. Still, it was enough to make her stomach drop. She looked up at him, her eyes apparently showing her fear, because he looked confused. she passed the note back to him. As he read the note, his expression changed from confusion to disgust. He mouthed, "I didn't write this!" and Adriyana's face spread into a relieved smile. If Sirius hadn't written it though, who had?

Sirius had a hunch. There was only one person in the school who was enough of a prat that they would learn how to copy his handwriting and switch the notes in midair without anyone noticing. He turned to the table Annie Moon was sitting at, where she was looking down and focusing a bit too hard on her work. He ripped off another piece of parchment. 

_Moon, you prat, leave my girlfriend and me alone. She's too smart to fall for your childish tricks. It's not like I would EVER pick you over her, so just give it up, and stop following me around. _

He lobbed the note over to her table. Hard. It hit her in the cheek and she let out a whimper. Annie's friends squealed delightedly because she had gotten a note from Sirius. They all had a bit of an obsession with him. As Annie read the note, her brown eyes grew wider. She turned the paper over and began to write.

Sirius and Adriyana were continuing their old conversation on a new piece of paper. No doubt their original note was in Annie's possession and was going to be passed around at the next Sirius Black Fan Club meeting because he had written on it. When Annie's note landed next to him, he just brushed it aside. But Annie wasn't going to give up that easy. Just as Sirius was writing Adriyana about what their next date should be, Annie's note began attacking him. Adriyana was looking at the note, motioning for him to open it. Finally, he relented and picked it up. It said:

_I can't leave you alone, Sirius. I think I love you. Siriusly. _

Sirius couldn't help it, he burst out laughing. _Loves_ him? She's got to be kidding! The thing that really got him laughing was the pun, though. He looked up and saw that everyone in the class was staring at him, most likely because he had fallen to the floor from laughing so hard. Annie looked terrified, almost in tears.

_'Bit overdramatic, that one…'_Sirius thought as he got back onto his chair.

James was looking at the note with a confused expression on his face. Sirius passed him the note. Annie pointed her wand at it, attempting to get it back, but James had already turned around. It only took a few seconds before he burst out laughing as well. Adriyana and Lily motioned for the note, and they passed it over. Annie looked absolutely horrified. 

After class, Sirius noticed Annie tailing him as he exited the room, so he and James started walking next to Adriyana and Lily on their way to lunch. Annie was still behind them.

James saw her, too. "Hey, Sirius. I have a serious question to ask you."

"Seriously? What is it?" Lily asked.

"Seriously, Evans. The serious question is for Sirius."

"You have a serious problem, all of you," Adriyana said.

"Yes, let's all be serious so I can seriously ask Sirius this serious question," James said.

"Yes, let's all be serious," Lily said. 

"I'm always Sirius!" Sirius said.

"Sirius! This question is serious!"

"Okay, I'm seriously listening. What's up?"

"Do you like my shoes?" James asked. Annie just scowled at them and walked over to the Ravenclaw table.

Sirius was surprised to see Lily laugh along with Adriyana. Normally she despised all of James' jokes. She was probably just doing it for Adriyana or something. Still, he would never hear the end of it from James. Sure enough, he was right. All day, it was, "Padfoot, did you see the way her eyes glow when she laughs?" and, "Do you guys think this means she likes me?" and even, "Do you reckon I should ask her out again? Will she say yes this time?"

"She won't, Prongs. Shut up now," Sirius finally said.

"Maybe you should just give up on her, Prongs. There are plenty of other girls who will take you," Remus added.

"But I don't want any of those other girls! They're not Lily! She's so sweet and beautiful and…"

The rest of them knew to tune out at that point. James would ramble on about Lily for a while, and they had heard it all. Sirius wanted to be there for his best friend, because he clearly felt the same way about Lily as he did about Adriyana. He couldn't imagine how hard it would be for him if Adriyana didn't feel the same way. 

"Snickerdoodle," Sirius called as they reached the portrait hole, which swung open. The Marauders headed up to their room. Sirius flopped down on his bed and lazily pulled out a chocolate frog and bit into it. James sat on his bed, deep in thought, Peter was attempting to do his homework, and Remus was reading a book. Finally, James opened his mouth to speak.

"Moony…what's it like to be in love?" he asked quietly. Sirius looked up interestedly from the chocolate frog card he was reading.

Remus looked shocked at the question, but, being a good friend, he answered willingly. He seemed to be thinking very hard. "Well, I guess it's like…" He searched his mind a for a while, then came up with an answer. "When you love someone the way I love Amber, you have an unexplainable attraction to them, but I'll try. You love every bit of that person, even their flaws. You notice little things about them that nobody else does. You get this weird feeling whenever you see them, like your stomach does a flip-flop, and you look at them and are like 'Wow, that's the girl I want to spend the rest of my life with.' You can't be happy unless they are. They mean everything to you."

"Wow…that was deep, Moony. Thanks," James said.

"Anytime, Prongs…why, do you think you feel that way about Lily?" Remus asked.

"I don't know…I really don't. That's basically the way I feel about her, but she doesn't feel the same way about me. Is it possible to love someone if the feeling isn't mutual? I'm also sort of afraid to love her, because she doesn't love me back," James said sadly.

Around this time, Sirius would usually make a snide comment about how little Prongsie was growing up, but he was currently lost in thought. Was it just him, or did love as Moony had described it sound a lot like the way he felt about Adriyana? Did he love her? He immediately began to get scared. Did he even know what love was? He wasn't sure, because he didn't know if he had ever loved anyone before. He had nobody to compare how he felt about her to. Not his family, that's for sure. During that summer, he had left his family forever because he couldn't stand them anymore. He hadn't loved any of the other girls he had dated, either. There was just nothing there. Then it hit him. The Marauders. Yeah, he could say that he loved them. They were like his brothers, the closest thing he had ever had to a real family, especially James and his parents.

His feelings for Adriyana, however, were different. He wasn't even sure if he was in love with her…at least not yet. If he wasn't, he would be soon, but if there's one thing he had already learned about his relationship with her, it was to take it slow. What he felt for her was so different from what he felt for his friends, and yet just as strong. He cared about her, he was absolutely positive about that. He had fallen for her like he never had for any other girl. But was it love?

No way. Sirius Black couldn't fall in love. Could he? 


	9. Chapter 9

_Err...yeah. Hi, to all of those who are reading this fic._

_Seeing as I always forget to put a disclaimer on my stories, well, read on people..._

_DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter, as much as I want to. _

_We're just normal people who loves th work of J.K Rowling._

_Cheers!_

_Don't forget to review or I'll send the Grim after yah!_

* * *

Chapter 9: Neglecting Your Friends Is Good For Them…Sometimes

_Dear Diary,_

_Today is December 1st, the day of the next Hogsmeade trip. Everyone is going Christmas shopping today, but I bought all my gifts during the last Hogsmeade trip, so I'm staying in Gryffindor Tower today. It's the last trip before Christmas Holiday, and Mum and Dad are going to Paris, so I'm staying here. Also, there's this really cute guy in our year in Ravenclaw. I can't believe I've never noticed him before. His name's Jeremy Howes. He has the most adorable smile ever, maybe even nicer than Pot–_

_I think I'm coming down with something. Like insanity._

_(Insanely) Yours,  
Lily _

"Wait, Prongs, why aren't you coming to Hogsmeade?" Sirius asked as they sat in the common room that morning.

"I already told you, I got my gifts for people, and I have no intentions of following you around and watching you and Agie snog all day while you buy yours!" James said, annoyed.

"Yeah, that might pose some issues, then…" Sirius mused.

"If you guys are going together, how are you going to buy gifts for each other?" Peter asked.

"She already got him something," James blurted out, and then clamped his jaw shut.

"What was that about?" Sirius asked him. James shook his head.

Just then, the four girls came down the stairs and sat down on the couch next to theirs.

"Hey, guys!" Alice said cheerfully, sitting next to Frank and grabbing his hand. She, Amber, and Adriyana all looked ready to go to Hogsmeade, but Lily was wearing a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Not exactly winter attire.

"Lily, are you staying here?" Remus asked. James looked up.

"Yeah, I already got everything. Why?" she asked.

"Oh…nothing…" Remus said, as James grinned madly. "So, are all six of us going together, or are we splitting up, Padfoot…Padfoot?"

"Sorry, what?" Sirius said, tearing his eyes away from Adriyana. She was putting on her shoes, and her head kept brushing his leg as she bent down.

"Yeah, come to think of it, I don't want to be around you two all day. Let's split up. How about we meet for lunch, though?" Amber said, making a face.

Adriyana opened her mouth, then seemed to think the better of what she was about to say. Instead, she pulled out her piece of parchment and tapped it with her wand. Sirius managed to see what she had written, and he laughed at the violet script.

_You're one to talk. Going to spend today in the One-Eyed Witch passage? ;)_

Adriyana held the paper so that Sirius could (conveniently) see Amber's response.

_Maybe…_

Remus, who was reading over Amber's shoulder, jumped up and pulled her up with him. "Come on, guys, lets go!" he said, and Alice, Frank, Sirius, Adriyana, and Peter stood up.

"Have fun, you two!" Sirius called as he pulled Adriyana out of the portrait hole.

"What are you talking about?" Lily called after him, and then turned around. The common room was empty except for her and Potter. He gave her a nervous smile and a wave.

"Potter? What are you doing here?" Lily asked.

"I'm staying, too. I bought all my gifts last Hogsmeade weekend when all my friends were out. That reminds me…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out something. "This is yours. You dropped it last trip, and I've been trying to give it to you ever since I saw it fall out of your pocket, but you never let me talk for long enough to tell you that I have it." He held up her gold locket.

Lily felt a twinge of guilt. All those times she had thought he just wanted to ask her on a date, and he had been trying to give her back the locket that she had torn up the girls' dormitory looking for. That would explain the "gift" he was trying to give her in Hogsmeade last time. She smiled at him, and his eyes bulged in shock.

"Thanks, James…Can you put it on me?" she asked. _Did I just call him James?_

She turned around and picked her hair up off her neck. She couldn't believe she was actually doing this. She felt his trembling hands on her neck as he closed the locket's clasp. It seemed like he let them linger just a little too long, but for once, she resisted chewing him out. It was the least she could do, right? He had found her favourite necklace.

"Beautiful…" James whispered.

"Isn't it, though? It was my grandmother's," Lily said, turning to face him again. He stared into her eyes for a while before he responded.

"That's not what I…anyway, since it's just us, what do you want to do?" James asked, hopefully.

"Well, since I have no choice, why don't we meet the rest of them for lunch later? If we can get to Hogsmeade, that is," Lily said.

"I can do that," James said with a grin.

Sirius and Adriyana were in a cluttered little book shop towards the end of the town, paying for Adriyana's gift for Amber, an extremely pretty blue diary with all kinds of privacy spells on it, along with a soft white quill.

"She'll love it," Sirius told Adriyana as they left the shop, walking to  
the little park that separated the town and the houses. Since it was winter, the whole park was deserted. They sat down on a bench under a tree.

"You think so? She keeps writing stuff in mine," Adriyana said.

"What does she write about?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't read them. She asks me not to," she responded, smiling at him.

"Well, do you write good stuff about me?" he asked.

"Nope. It's mostly about what a prat you are, actually," Adriyana said.

"Really? You think I'm a prat?" he asked. "You wound me, Agie."

She laughed. "If I did, would I do this?" she said, as she smiled warmly and then put her lips on his. He returned the kiss, and she ran her hand through his soft hair and he tangled his fingers in hers. The kiss got deeper and deeper, and Sirius' mouth travelled to her neck. Adriyana squirmed uncomfortably, and he jumped away.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Sorry, Siri…it's…Lily," Adriyana said.

"Lily?" he said, confused. Then he noticed the paper in her hand. More specifically, the emerald-green sentence written on it. On the bright side, at least they'd gotten somewhere before Lily could interrupt this time.

_What time are you guys meeting for lunch?_

_What the hell, Lily! I'm busy…_

Sirius grinned at that last part. About a second later, Lily's response appeared on the paper.

_Sorry to disturb you…not that I want to know what you're doing._

_You should be sorry. Why do you want to know about lunch?_

_Oh, James and I might be coming down and meeting you guys._

"What? Since when does she call him James?" Sirius asked.

"She doesn't. What have they been doing since we left?"

"Apparently the same thing we're doing…" Sirius mused.

"Or were doing…" Adriyana said.

"Well, we can fix that. Hurry up and tell them to meet us in an hour." Sirius whispered in her ear. She did. "Now…where were we?" he asked with a smile.

Remus, who was walking down the snowy path of Hogsmeade hand in hand with Amber, saw Alice and Frank as they walked to The Three Broomsticks for lunch. Frank and Alice saw them, and the four of them walked in together and sat at a big table. Amber and Alice knew Lily was coming because of the interesting conversation they had seen on their papers. Adriyana and Sirius walked in next. Frank and Alice started cracking up when they saw Adriyana. Her neck had quite a few dark red marks on it.

Amber's inky midnight eyes widened in shock. "Do we tell her?" she whispered to Alice.

Alice shook her head. "Nope. We just give her discreet hints," she said. Amber nodded in agreement.

Adriyana sat down and began to start up a normal conversation, as if she wasn't covered in love bites. Suddenly she looked up, towards the door of the pub. "Um, you guys? Am I hallucinating or did Lily and James just walk in together? Look, Lily isn't slapping him or anything. Something is very wrong."

They sat down, on opposite sides of the table. James plopped a big bag of Honeydukes sweets down on the table and Lily stared at Adriyana's neck. Alice nudged her and Remus picked up a piece of chocolate from the pile and tasted it.

"Yum, this is delicious. Would you like a BITE, LOVE?" he said loudly, his gaze shifting from Amber to Adriyana at the last two words.

James caught on. "Guys, guess what. There was this vampire in Slughorn's office when we walked past it, he looked like he wanted to attack someone's neck, or something…" He looked at Adriyana, too.

"Serious…ly?" Frank said, grinning.

"Yeah…he really looked like he had an urge to bite someone!" Lily added, hardly believing she was teaming up with James to tease Adriyana.

"Wow…I wonder what someone would look like if they were covered in bites…" Alice said, faking deep thought.

Adriyana finally caught on. She ran to the bathroom. Amber, once she was done laughing of course, followed her.

"That was fantastic, guys! Great job being discreet!" Alice said enthusiastically, giving the table a thumbs-up.

"Sorry, Padfoot, mate," Remus added, because Sirius was seething in anger, clenching his drink so tightly it was shaking.

"Oh, look, she's written something," James said, because Alice's walkie-talkie paper was sitting on the table, and they could all see Adriyana's violet scribble.

_You idiots! Why do you need to be discreet when all of you already know! _

Alice tapped her paper.

_Because it's fun._

_Fair enough. I'd kill you all if I didn't know a spell to fix this. _

Lily and Alice laughed.

"So…is Agie mad at me, or what?" Sirius said anxiously.

"Nope…but I don't see why she would be…did you do something?" Lily asked. "Look, here she comes. She doesn't look mad."

Sure enough, Adriyana walked over to the table and took her spot next to Sirius, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"So…are we only having sweets for lunch, or what?" Alice asked, picking up a Chocolate Frog and twirling it between her fingers.

Lily and James' friends had deserted them again. Not that this was a bad thing. Not for James, at least, because now it was just the two of them walking the path back to Hogwarts. Lily shivered as an icy gust of

"Hey, Evans?" he asked nervously. "Do you want my cloak? You look cold."

"You? Doing something gentlemanly?" she said, though she did let him put the cloak on her. They walked for a few minutes in silence. Then Lily spoke again. "And…"

"Yes?" he said hopefully.

"Thanks. For not being such a prat today, I mean."

"Oh. I thought you were about to declare your undying love for me," he said, kicking a rock with his foot.

"Well, for most of today, anyways," she sighed. "And thanks so much for finding my locket. I really owe…never mind. Forget I said anything," she added quickly, a blush creeping up her cheeks.

"I will never figure you out, Evans."

"And I will never declare my undying love for you, Potter," she said with a grin as they entered the huge stone doors of Hogwarts.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Evans. Everyone knows you secretly lust for me…" He put his hand over his heart.

"In your dreams," she said, rolling her eyes. _Or maybe in mine. Oh, crap, did I just think that? I did NOT just think that! Get a hold of yourself, Lils, he's a prat, remember? _

Looks like someone's still in denial…

James couldn't believe he'd been able to have such a normal conversation with Lily, for what may be the first time in his life. He watched her emerald eyes glow with an emotion he didn't recognize. He watched her hair shine in the torchlight of the corridor they were in, and he watched the way she smiled. Her beauty, along with the fact that she was actually talking to him, made him deliriously happy. She either hadn't noticed how he was looking at her or she just didn't mind anymore, and that fact made James even happier.

"Well, anyway, Potter, much as I hate to admit it, I didn't have too bad a time today, and I have to go now," she said, motioning towards Alice, who was waiting in the corner of the Great Hall.

"All right, then," he said, sad to see the back of her. He had just had a real talk with Lily, spent most of the day with her, and none of it being shouted at by her. He could hardly believe it. He was really getting mature. Yeah. That had to be it.

And with that, he whooped triumphantly and ran back to the common room to devise a brilliant plan for how to torture Snivellus. Something to do with women's clothing, possibly.

* * *

_A/N: Whee!!! More Lovey Dovey with Jamesie Lils!!!_

Read and Review!!!


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Prongs and Presents

_Dear Diary,_

Happy Christmas holiday! Gryffindor Tower is nearly empty; most of the kids have gone home because of the whole You-Know-Who deal. Those of us (at least the people I know) who are still here are here either because their parents are out on an Auror mission (Me, James, Siri, Frank, and Gideon and Fabian Prewett), on vacation (Lily and Remus) or just because all their friends are staying (Peter, Amber and Alice). It should be pretty fun…especially when Siri sees what James and I got him together.

Love,   
Adriyana

Dear Diary,

We played Truth or Dare again today. Potter dared Agie to wear antlers on her head until Christmas Day. I don't know how he knew the spell for that one, but it looks pretty hilarious. She tried to ram him when she realized she even had to sleep with them on. Happy days!

Sincerely,   
Lily

Lily put down her diary, and looked up. Adriyana's antlers were caught on one of her bedposts and she was wriggling around madly and trying to break free. Lily would have helped her, but she was too busy rolling on the floor laughing. Amber was laughing too, but Alice had run out of the room.

"Where's…she…going?" Adriyana said, jerking her head in between each word in her desperate attempt for freedom.

"She's…go-going…to…to–" Amber said, struggling to talk and laugh at the same time. At that moment, Alice ran back into the room.

She was holding Frank's camera, and she quickly snapped a picture of Adriyana struggling. Once the picture was taken, Lily and Amber regained their composure and began helping Adriyana get unstuck. She kept moving when they got closer and almost poked their eyes out. Lily had the strange feeling this wasn't entirely an accident.

When they had finally freed Adriyana, the four of them sat down on the carpet.

"What else is there to do, guys? We've already played Truth or Dare, painted our nails, braided each other's hair, and talked about our feelings…and it's only noon," Lily said.

"Well, we could play Quidditch…" Adriyana suggested. "I mean, I know it's December and freezing, but we're here, and we have basically the whole Quidditch pitch to ourselves."

Amber, Adriyana, and Alice all stared at Lily. "What?" she said.

"Well," Alice said, "this is about the time when you object and say something like, 'Not a chance. Playing Quidditch means inviting Potter to play Quidditch, and there's no way I'm spending my holiday flying around a frozen pitch with him!'…or something like that."

"Well, I will be freezing my arse off and be spending all day with Ja–Potter…but what the hell, I'm in if you guys are in," Lily said. They stared at her for a full five minutes before Adriyana and Amber ran off to get the boys.

In total, there were eleven of them in Gryffindor Tower that were willing to play Quidditch in January (Including Gideon Prewett, Frank's best mate, and his younger brother, Fabian. Gideon was in his seventh year with Frank and Fabian was in his fifth). James, of course, was leading the whole event; he was abnormally peppy ever since he had found out Lily wanted to play, even after she knew he was playing.

"Okay, we need one more player, and we'll play with only two Chasers," James informed them all as they stood in the common room.

"Well, nobody else in here wants to play, so let's walk there, and if we don't find anyone along the way, then one team will rotate players or something," Remus reasoned. "Or I can sit out. I can't play this game very well."

"Remy, I'm sure you're not as bad as you say," Amber said.

"Well, do you know that hole in the equipment shed?" Peter asked her.

"Yeah, why?" 

"In our third year, Moony decided to help Padfoot with 'Beater practice,' and that's what ended up happening."

"We weren't practicing anywhere near there, either," Sirius added. 

"Okay…" Adriyana said, as they approached the Great Hall. "Let's see…Oh! Zach White is in here! He's on the Ravenclaw team, right?"

"Yeah, but then I call being on Alice's team!" Lily said.

"Why?" Frank asked.

"He'll be too busy staring at her to play. Did you see him at the dance?" Lily asked smiling.

"Did you see _him_ at the dance?" Adriyana said, pointing at Frank. "He was looking at someone besides White."

Frank became very interested in his shoes all of a sudden, and Alice smiled at him and took his hand. Amber went up to Zach and started talking to him; eventually he nodded and followed all of them out to the Quidditch pitch.

They split up into teams, one team consisting of Adriyana, Sirius, Gideon, Frank, Alice, and Remus, and the other James, Lily, Zach, Fabian, Amber, and Peter.

It was freezing outside, but they still played for hours. James and Lily were their team's Chasers, and he was excited to say they made an amazing team. She was actually quite good at the game.

"I think my nose is frozen!" Adriyana called as the eleven of them headed back up to the common room, Zach having left them to go back to the Ravenclaw common room.

"Consider yourself lucky…I won't even tell you what I need to thaw out," Fabian said, running a hand through his red hair.

"Fabian, that better not mean what I think it means!" Adriyana exclaimed. Fabian just raised his eyebrows.

"Mistletoe." Adriyana said the new password as they reached the Fat Lady's portrait. She swung open and they all went inside, and saw that the house elves had put out eleven mugs of hot chocolate, a gigantic bowl of marshmallows, and some other snacks in front of the roaring fire. 

"I guess there's nothing to do now that almost all of the school is gone," Lily said.

"I love this place," Gideon sighed.

Sirius was having the best Christmas holiday of his life. Of course, there wasn't much competition…his past fifteen Christmases were spent at Grimmauld Place (his parents forced him home), which wasn't very festive, to say the least. Now, sitting in front of the fire in Gryffindor Tower on Christmas Eve with Adriyana resting her head on his shoulder (well, kind of…her head was oddly positioned because of the antlers), he was finally having a Merry Christmas.

Adriyana wrapped her arms tighter around him and sighed. It looked like she was thinking the same thing.

Fabian, Peter, and Frank were having a contest to see who could fit the most marshmallows in his mouth. Sirius and Adriyana were watching the competition with mild interest when Gideon and James came and sat down next to them, tired of cheering on the three boys.

"You know, Gid, you and Fabian look nothing alike," Adriyana said as Fabian shoved eight marshmallows in his mouth. It was true. Fabian had longer, light red hair and dark blue eyes, and Gideon had short and spiky dark brown hair and even darker brown eyes.

"Yeah, I guess," said Gideon.

"Hey, where's Moony? I haven't seen him in a while…" Sirius mused.

"Amber's gone, too…" Lily said, walking up to them. "They both left together a while ago."

"Oh, Merlin…" Adriyana said. "Thanks ever so much for that image, Lils."

"Anytime," Lily said with a grin.

"Mgggph!" Frank called, pointing to his throat to signify that he was choking. Alice panicked and forgot that there was a simple spell to clear Frank's throat pipe. She wrapped her hands behind him and began performing the Heimlich maneuver on him. After a second, about fifty marshmallows shot out of Frank's mouth, showering all of them.

"Oh my God! Frankie, are you all right?" Alice said.

"Yeah…I'm good," Frank said. Then he started laughing. Everyone in the common room got showered with marshmallows. Adriyana had several stuck to her antlers.

"I HATE THESE THINGS!" Adriyana yelled as Lily and Alice laughed. "I keep getting caught on stuff, I can't hug Siri, and I look like a blooming coat rack!"

"Hey!" James said, offended. 

"Sorry, James," Adriyana said, sounding confused; she didn't know why he was so mad. "Oh, Merlin, it's nearly midnight…we should go sleep soon, guys."

Everyone nodded in agreement. "I can barely walk after playing Quidditch for so long," Alice added. "Let me hold your antlers for support as we go up the stairs, Agie."

"I hope you're kidding," Adriyana mumbled, before the three of them trudged up the stairs.

The boys (minus Remus) headed for the stairs to the boys' dormitories, and Sirius suddenly realized how much his muscles ached. He flopped onto his bed, falling asleep the second his head hit the pillow.

"OI! PADFOOT WAKE UP! IT'S CHRISTMAS!" James yelled, and Sirius opened his eyes, the bright dormitory coming into focus.

"Morning, Prongs…Happy Christmas," Sirius mumbled, then he noticed that Remus was back and awake. "Happy Christmas, Moony…Wormtail."

"Happy Christmas, Padfoot. C'mon, let's open these presents!" Peter said, motioning towards the foot of Sirius' bed, where a pile of presents was sitting.

Sirius jumped off his bed and landed in front of the pile of presents, picking up a big, flat present that said, "To Padfoot, From Moony," on it, and tearing the paper off.

James said what Sirius was thinking, apparently having opened the same present as him. "Wow, Moony, thanks!"

Remus had given Sirius a sign that said, "Beware Of Dog," which Sirius promptly took and used a Sticking Charm to put over his bed. Sirius noticed James doing the same thing, except his sign said, "Deer Crossing," instead. Peter's sign said, "Speed Limit 45," for lack of a better rat-themed sign, and Peter liked it very much.

Sirius opened all of his presents (which took a short time, because all of the others had more presents than him) and all that was left in his pile now was a thin envelope.

_'Hmm, that's odd, I didn't get anything from Prongs or Agie… I wonder if they got lost?'_ Sirius thought, scratching his head. He opened the envelope, which he now noticed had his name on it in purple ink.

A piece of paper fell out of the envelope. There was nothing written on it. This struck Sirius as very strange.

"Padfoot, what'd you get from Agie?" Remus asked. James looked up at him.

"…just a blank bit of parchment," Sirius said.

"Me, too…I mean, from Star," Remus said.

"Look, guys, my mum gave me enough fudge to share! We can–"

"OW! HOT!" Remus screamed, interrupting Peter's rant. He threw his piece of paper in the air. Sirius immediately picked up his own paper, which he had discarded, and saw that it was no longer blank.

_Ha! Gotcha Siri!_

We got Remy, too.

"Ha! Moony? Do you know what this is?"

"Lethal paper of doom?" 

"No! It's that paper the girls use to talk to each other with! And they gave us one!"

_You guys burned Moony with this thing. He called it the 'Paper of Doom'…you're murderers!…hand murderers._

Remy, are you alright?

"Padfoot, this is great…how do I work it?"

"Just tap the paper with your wand," Sirius said.

_Siri, your wand is resting on the paper…and you can write on it, manually too. This way's just easier._

Agie? This is a fantastic present.

This? This isn't your present. You'll get it later.

What? You mean there's more?

From James and me. Am's got something for you too, Remus. Now I've gotta go, I haven't opened my presents yet. Bye!

Sirius could only stare at the paper, confused.

Adriyana (now antler-free) tucked her own piece of parchment back into her front pocket and looked at the pile of presents that sat in front of her. She had opened nearly all of them, and they were all wonderful, but there was still one left to open. Her present from Sirius. She had saved the small silver box for last and could barely stand it in its current unwrapped state anymore.

Ash the phoenix landed on Adriyana's shoulder as she watched Lily unwrap the present that she had given her.

Lily opened the box and pulled out from inside a chunky looking silver charm bracelet. The charms on it were actually moving, each one a memory of some of Lily's favorite moments with her friends. Adriyana's personal favorite charm was the "pillow fight" one, which had a picture of Adriyana and Lily beating Alice senseless with their pillows, feathers flying everywhere.

"Agie, it's so lovely!" Lily said, rushing over to hug her, sending Ash flying away.

Adriyana glanced down at the silver box again. For an inanimate object, it was extremely good at taunting her.

"Agie, just open it, already," Amber said, looking up from the _Romeo and Juliet_ book Remus had given her. He had written little love notes on many of the pages--not that Amber let anyone read them, but it was just about the sweetest thing any of them had ever heard. Remus couldn't afford much, but the smile on Amber's face made it look like he had given her the world.

"I swear that box is laughing at me, Am," Adriyana said, giving the box a death glare. She didn't want to open Sirius' present until everyone had finished opening theirs, because she knew when she opened it, she'd go running to Sirius to thank him, and wouldn't see her friends for a good hour or so, because then she and James will give him his present and the three of them would probably use it for a while.

"Agie, last one…Oh, it's from Jam–Potter," Lily said, reading the card and laughing lightly.

"What?"

"Oh, just this card," Lily said. then she opened the package.

"Um…what is it, Lils?" Alice and Amber asked. Adriyana had taken to glaring at the box again.

"Look, guys…this is actually pretty cool," Lily said, almost disbelievingly. She picked up out of the package a sparkly flower.

"It's a lily…made out of sugar?" Amber asked.

"Yeah, I can really eat it," Lily said with a smile.

"What does the card say?" Adriyana asked. Lily handed it to her.

_Lily,_

This flower is very sweet. Just like you (except when you're threatening me). My mum showed me the spell for this when I was younger. Enjoy, it's as beautiful as you. Plus…it's a lily. 

From,  
James

"Awwthatsniceareyoudoneyet?" Adriyana shouted. That package was so going to get it for being such a tease.

"Knock yourself out, Agie," Lily said, and Adriyana grabbed Sirius' present and ripped off the card. 

_Agie,_

It took me forever to find the perfect gift, but I think I got it. It reminds me of your eyes. I really hope you like it.

Merry Christmas,  
Sirius

Adriyana read the note aloud to everyone.

"Cute," Lily said. They all watched Adriyana rip away the silver paper. A long, thin black box fell out.

Adriyana opened the box and looked inside. Her eyes grew even wider, and before any of them could see what was inside, she ran out the door, box in hand. 

"Can I have it now?" 

"No."

"How about now?"

"No!"

"Hey, what about–"

"PADFOOT! SHUT UP!" James yelled, causing Peter to scream and throw his chunk of fudge in the air in alarm. It landed on Gideon's head because he happened to be sitting next to them in the common room.

"At least give me a hint…is it bigger than a breadbox?" Sirius said, as the other three boys groaned. Ever since Sirius had found out he was getting a secret joint present from James and Adriyana, he had been trying to guess what it was.

"I won't say anything until Agie comes down," James said, and Sirius' train of thought shifted.

"I hope she likes what I got her," Sirius said. "It took me a REALLY long time to find it."

"I love it, Siri," said a female voice behind them, and he turned around so that he was now nose to nose with Adriyana.

She moved forward, closing the small amount of space between their lips.

"Really?" Sirius asked her as he pulled out of the kiss.

"Sirius…this is so thoughtful and nice…how could I not love it?" she said, holding up the open box. Inside lay the sparkly amethyst necklace that Sirius had spent nearly an hour looking for. It was a simple silver chain with a single, glittering purple gemstone set into it. 

"He really got that for you?" Remus asked, staring at the necklace.

Adriyana nodded eagerly and handed Sirius the necklace. "Put it on me?" she asked. James watched sadly as his best friend fastened the necklace. It reminded him of when he had given Lily back her locket. If only Lily would look at him the way Adriyana was looking at Sirius now. 

Sirius watched Adriyana as she showed her friends the necklace. He had wanted to find something perfect for her, while still not spending much money–he wasn't exactly rolling in it ever since he had run away from home. But when he looked at Adriyana's eyes, which were already sparkling in happiness, and the way they looked with that necklace…well, he had done a damn good job.

Adriyana laughed at something Lily told her, then walked back over to where Sirius was sitting next to James.

"Ready yet?" she asked James.

"Yeah," James said, as Sirius jumped up off the couch. They were talking about his present…right?

"It's out on the grounds, come on, Siri!" Adriyana said and the three of them ran for the door.

James and Adriyana refused to answer any of Sirius' questions as they headed out to the grounds.

"Where is it?" Sirius asked. The two of them said nothing, just kept walking over to behind Hagrid's hut.

Both of them suddenly stopped short and stepped aside. In front of them was what could only be Sirius' present.

Sirius stared at it for a full five minutes before he could speak.

"Oh…my…God…" 


	11. Chapter 11: Sick on James

hey y'all!!!

so sorry for the late update... blame schoolwork, mates.

DISCLAIMER: Rowling owns it all, I only own Agie and other OC's in there.

READ AND REVIEW!!!

PRETTY PWEASE...

* * *

Chapter 11: In Which We Discover Two Kinds of Falling: Sick and On James

Sirius stared at it in awe. "Prongs…Agie…is that a--"

"Motorcycle? Indeed it is, Padfoot," James said, grinning. "A flying motorcycle."

Sirius looked at the shining black motorbike. He remembered one time, in Muggle studies, which he originally only took to piss off his parents but actually found interesting, they were learning about transportation. He remembered telling James how cool he thought the motorcycle was and how badly he wanted one of them…or a canoe.

No…the motorcycle was definitely better. "Wow…how'd you get it to fly?"

"We had to take the whole thing apart and charm a bunch of the parts," Adriyana said, looking fondly at it.

"This is…amazing!" Sirius said, still staring at it.

"Agie…I think he's going to dump you for the thing…we may have just made a terrible mistake," James said, rolling his eyes.

Adriyana looked at James. "Do you know…you really are a lot like Lils…that's something she would say," Adriyana said.

James began staring dreamily into the sky, possibly thinking of bespectacled, red-haired, eye-rolling children.

"Well, he's useless," Adriyana said. She turned away from James and looked at Sirius. "Well…?"

"Well, what?" Sirius looked at her.

"Are you going to ride it?" she asked, pointing to the bike.

"Yeah!" Sirius said, jumping on the bike. James snapped out of his daze to show Sirius how to work the controls.

In about five minutes, Sirius had mastered it and was up in the air, flying over the grounds of Hogwarts at breakneck speed. He slowed down, and took a deep breath of the icy winter air.

After flying for a while, he noticed the figures of Adriyana and James were still standing out on the grounds. Sirius landed the bike and rode it over to them. They had clearly had a snowball fight in his absence, and it looked like Adriyana had gotten most of the snow on her. She was shivering and her face was red from the cold, but she was still smiling nonetheless.

"You guys want a ride?" Sirius asked, smiling.

Lily sat in her room later that night. She had read James' letter perhaps fifty times, and yet she could find no signs of innuendo, rudeness, or even big-headed arrogance (and that's the ONLY reason she read it fifty times, of course). Maybe Remus had written it for James…no, wait, he had written it for _Potter_. That had to be it, right?

Then there was the lily. It was so pretty, Lily was almost afraid to eat it. Then Alice had pointed out that it would attract bugs, and if Lily didn't eat it in a few days, she would flush it down the toilet. Lily then reminded herself that it was a gift from James…er, Potter, and therefore should be flushed, but she just couldn't do it. It was too beautiful.

Reluctantly, she broke off one of the petals and brought it to her lips.

Okay, so James was a stalker. How else would he know that her favorite flavor of anything was butterscotch? Unless it was his favorite flavor, too…though it wasn't very comforting knowing she had something in common with James Potter.

Adriyana, who had spent most of the day flying around on the frozen grounds with Sirius, walked into the dormitory at that moment, and Lily hastily shoved the letter under her pillow. Adriyana was pale, shivering and had a mug of hot chocolate (there was always hot chocolate in the common room in the winter) clasped in her hands.

She sniffled. "Hello, Lils."

"Agie, are you all right? You stayed out on the grounds all day and I think you're sick or something," Lily said, thankful that Adriyana hadn't noticed the letter only half-concealed by her pillow.

Adriyana coughed and sat down on her bed. "It's freezing in here, Lils, don't you think?" She sat down on her bed and pulled the covers around herself.

Lily shoved the letter farther into her pillow. _Wait a minute! What's wrong with me? Since when do I hide ANYTHING from Adriyana? We tell each other everything…it's not like she'd laugh at me or tease me or anything…she's been trying to convince me to like him ever since she started going out with Sirius. If I can't trust her, something is seriously wrong with me._

"Adriyana? Can I ask you something?" Lily said nervously. A muffled noise came from the cocoon of blankets Adriyana was wrapped in. All Lily could see was one of Adriyana's eyes inside.

"Well, it's about James–"

"Why…James…not…Potter?" Adriyana said, yawning loudly. She shivered, even though she was wrapped so tightly in the blankets.

Lily got up and pulled some spare blankets out of the closet. She put them over Adriyana, then went back to her own bed and sat down. "That's just it. I don't feel like calling him Potter anymore. And look at this lily! It's amazing!" She held up the sugar lily.

"Loves…you," Adriyana said sleepily.

"No…no, he can't!" Lily said frantically, snapping a leaf off of the sugar lily from grasping it so hard.

"Yes…" Adriyana whispered, before falling into a deep sleep. Lily, unfortunately, wasn't as lucky.

The Gryffindor common room was littered with empty Butterbeer bottles, shreds of wrapping paper, random pillows, and marshmallows. Sirius and James stared at it proudly.

"Oh yeah…we Gryffindors sure know how to party," Sirius said.

"This is disgusting! When was the last time somebody ate a banana?" Alice said from across the room, holding up a rather old looking banana peel with the tip of her wand.

"Well, it would have to be yesterday; otherwise the elves would have gotten it…why didn't they come last night?" James mused.

"Who knows?" Alice shrugged.

"You know," Remus said from where he was sitting on the couch, reading a book, "You could just do a simple cleaning spell,"

"We could…" James said, tapping his chin wisely.

"Well, it's a good thing they didn't come…look at this!" Sirius said, holding up a scrap of parchment room the floor. It had a miniscule dot of ink in the upper left corner, just so that its owners wouldn't write on it by mistake. If you didn't already know it should be there, you would never notice it.

"The Marauder's Map? What's it doing down here?" James said, taking the paper fondly in his hands.

"Check to make sure that's it, Padfoot," James said, tossing the map back to Sirius while he went off to distract Alice.

Sirius tapped the map with his wand. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good!"

Sure enough, the intricate map of the school blossomed onto the page. Sirius stared at it. The dots marked "Lily Evans" and "Amber Carmichael" were approaching the Gryffindor common room, and of course, "Alice Cohen" was standing right over there…but where was the "Adriyana Dumbledore" dot?

Lily and Amber stepped into the common room, Lily holding a huge steaming bowl of chicken soup, Amber a mug of tea.

Alice looked at them. "What? No Pepper-Up Potion?" she asked.

"Pomfrey's not there," Amber said.

"Why? What's up?" Remus asked.

"Adriyana's really sick," Lily said. Sirius' eyes darted around the paper, noticing that Adriyana was, indeed, in her bed in the girls' dormitory.

"Probably from flying on that bike all day!" Alice said, glaring at Sirius.

"We're all going out…the three of us promised Hagrid we'd help him clear the snow around the greenhouses…well, actually Adriyana did, in exchange for being able to keep that bike behind his hut…of course, now the three of us are stuck with it," Lily scowled.

"I'll help you, Evans," James said, smiling shyly and ruffling his hair.

Lily's brilliant green eyes widened and she just stared at James, probably in shock because James had offered to help her with something without asking something in return.

"That's a yes in Lily-speak," Alice said, as Lily continued to stare.

Amber gave Lily's foot a good stomping on, spilling quite a bit of the tea. "Bugger. Well, I'll just bring her the soup and this half a cup of tea, then…you just continue to be mesmerized by James' attractiveness, Lils…"

That snapped Lily out of it. She shook her fiery head and glared angrily at Amber's back.

Sirius glared at Remus. "Oh…OH! Er…I'll help, too," Remus said, and Amber grinned at him.

"Yeah, I'm in," Peter said, getting up off the couch. They all waited for Amber to return, and once they did, they left the common room, leaving Sirius alone. In his fifth year, he had figured out something very important. The girls had male animals, right? So male animals had to be able to get up the stairs, right? Right.

Looking around the clearly empty common room, he transformed into Padfoot and ran up the stairs, until he got to the door marked _Sixth Years._ He nudged open the door with his nose and turned back into himself before anyone on the other side of the door could see the large black dog that had been outside the door.

He smiled as he entered the girls' dormitory. Basically the same layout and furniture, same scarlet carpet, same huge window with the same view over Hogwarts grounds, and yet…it was so different. He noticed the poster of Adriyana and himself kissing after the Quidditch game, he noticed the vases of roses that were STILL alive…he noticed Lily's lily was very prominently displayed…and of course, he noticed the smell…mostly the roses mixed with some girly perfume.

"…Siri?" Sirius noticed Adriyana sitting in her bed, surrounded by crumpled tissues, the bowl of soup sitting on her lap. Her eyes were tired, her face was pasty, and her hair hung lank around her face.

"Adriyana, are you all right?" Sirius asked. It was a pretty stupid question, actually. Of course, even though she looked like she was about to pass out, the weak smile she gave him still made his stomach do a flip. Maybe he was in love…

"I can honestly say I've been better…how'd you get in here?" she asked him, sniffling.

"Can't tell you, sorry…" Sirius said. Adriyana just shrugged and looked into her bowl of soup, scowling at it.

"What's wrong?" he asked, slowly stepping closer to her bed.

"Amber told me to eat this whole blasted bowl, but I already ate all the noodles and now all that's left is this oily broth crap…" she said, then she groaned and fell back against her pillows.

Sirius picked up the bowl of "oily broth crap"–which did look pretty unappetizing–and set it down on Adriyana's nightstand.

"What are you doing here, Siri? You should be hanging out with James, Remus, and Peter," she said, looking up at him before adding quietly, "not that I don't want you here."

He smiled at her. "I'm just here for you…after all it's my fault you're sick…and I didn't want to leave you here all alone," he said. She shivered and pulled the blankets on her bed up closer. Finally giving in, Sirius sat down on the bed. He knew Adriyana loved having someone close to her, and he knew he wanted to be that someone, so what was the problem?

He rested his head against the headboard and pulled out his wand, then muttered a spell that made steam start coming out of the tip. "Agie, here, breathe this in," he said, and she pulled herself closer to him, putting her face into the steam and breathing in deeply.

"Thanks so much…what would I do without you?"

"Well, I expect you'd have to hold your wand up by yourself," Sirius said, and she gave him a playful shove.

"That's not what I meant and you know it. This…thing we have, it's something…something…"

"Something real," he finished, and her eyes started sparkling again, like she had a secret. Only this time, he was in on it.

"Something real…" she repeated. Then she started coughing.

"Okay, Agie, you need sleep," he said regretfully, realizing a second too late that this was probably THE worst possible time he could have said that. He held his still-steaming wand closer to her face and put his arm around her, running his hand through her hair gently until her eyelids began to droop sleepily.

She yawned. "If you really want to, you could go, Siri. I mean, I'd rather you stay with me for a bit longer but I'm just going to fall asleep."

"I'm staying right here. Do you really think I'd leave my 'something real'?"

She smiled at him. "Too bad you'll get sick if I kiss you."

"You owe me when you get better."

"Consider it done," she said with a sniffle. Shortly after that, she fell into a deep sleep in Sirius' arms.

Melting snow with a jet of hot air from your wand was not as much fun as it sounded.

James prodded the snow dully with his wand. Normally, he would just set alight the nearest piece of wood or Slytherin, and that would get the job done much faster. However, everything was too moist for that, not to mention he was trying to be "Mature James" in front of Lily. Mature James did not make Slytherins spontaneously combust.

"So annoying…SHE gets him that thing, then makes this deal…now she's upstairs doing Merlin-knows-what while I freeze my arse off making ice melt." Lily walked by him, muttering darkly.

"Are you okay Lil-Evans?" James asked.

"Well, I suppose this could be worse," she said. _HA!_ James thought. _Never before has Lily associated "Could be worse" with any activity she's ever done in my presence!_

"Potter?" she said, looking at him worriedly. Probably because he looked like a madman grinning so hard. He instantly froze up, though, when he heard his name escape her lips.

"Yeah?" he said, not knowing what to expect.

"You…can call me…Lily."

Behind them, Remus let out a gasp, somehow triggering an impulse in his wand that made a great deal of the snow explode out of the way.

"Merlin, Moony! WHY didn't you do that sooner? Would have saved me a great load of time!" Peter said, gasping loudly like Remus had and waving his wand about madly, expecting some explosion to occur. Instead, however, all the snow around him turned to slick, shiny ice.

James just stood there, his wand at his side.

"Lily…"

Unfortunately, James' wand was still spraying hot air, and he had been holding it against his thigh for some time now. "OW! BLOODY HELL!"

"What is it, Potter?"

"James…call me James," he said, gasping in pain. For something that melted snow so slowly, it sure did burn like hell.

"All right," she said, but she smiled nonetheless. "You know what will help that burn?"

"What?"

"A little….SNOW!" she yelled, pelting him with a snowball.

_Wait a minute…was LILY EVANS just flirting with me? ME?_ James thought, as he threw a snowball back at Lily, then threw one at Remus.

Soon enough, all of them were launched into a full scale snowball fight, though Peter was having trouble, because he was still encapsulated in his icy hovel.

James managed to make a snowball the size of a Quaffle, and was about to throw it, when something much heavier hit him.

_Wait…where'd my icy Quaffle go?...BLOODY HELL!...something's on top of me…MERLIN! IT'S…LILY!_ James thought, as Lily pinned him to the ground, shoving a great deal of snow in his face.

She stopped smashing snow into his face and just sat there, pinning his shoulders down and breathing heavily, her breath coming out in white puffs. "Lily?" he asked.

She seemed to notice that she was just randomly sitting on top of him at that point. "Bloody–" she said, jumping away from him and running full-tilt back to the castle.

"Merlin, Lily! If you looked up 'Idiot' in the dictionary, there'd be a picture of you there…" Lily muttered darkly, as she kept running through the halls and back to the Gryffindor common room. She glared angrily at her feet, ignoring Frank and Gideon, who asked her to play chess with them.

She got to the heavy oak door of her dormitory and pushed it open.

"Okay…that's disturbing," Lily said, as her eyes fell on Adriyana's bed, where she could see two people sleeping, one of which definitely shouldn't be there. She turned to run out of the room, but then, upon remembering the exciting world that awaited her down there, decided against it, and settled for sitting on the stairs and waiting for Sirius to leave.

She sighed and leaned against the wall...why couldn't she have someone that cared about her as much as Sirius cared about Adriyana?

Little did she know…she actually did.

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A/N: Hooweee... more Jamesie & Lily fluffinesh...

And o' course we can't forget Siri and Agie fluffiness...

Don't forget to click that cute little button down there...

Review!!!


	12. Chapter 12: The Other One

_Hey y'all!!! Sorry for the long wait, I've been busy with exams and all. And i'm still sad that the number of chapters in this fic is equal to the reviews..._

_ So...all I'm asking is that you REVIEW!!! read it first...then review._

_DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Harry Potter, I only own random OC's in there._

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Chapter 12: James Potter, the Other He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named

_Dear Diary,_

_I know I've only been going out with Siri for about three months now, but this is the strongest I've ever felt about any guy before. I think I love him. Do I tell him? Or do I wait for him to tell me? Will he ever tell me? Now I've gone and confused myself. As if I wasn't already confused enough._

_Love (!...or ?),  
Adriyana_

_Dear Diary,_

_Christmas break is over, and classes have begun again. I can't say I'm too disappointed, at least I'm not James' sole focus of attention anymore, now that he's got Quidditch practices and his fan club back. Stupid twits…er, I mean…thank you, my beloved saviors. Yeah, that's what I meant to write. I must stop thinking about James...Maybe I should stop writing his name. I'll call him…He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. No, wait, that's taken. Well, how about if I just stop thinking about him?_

_…this really is harder than it seems._

_Sincerely,  
Lily_

In the boys' dormitory, Sirius sat on his bed, sucking on a Sugar Quill and thinking. The piece of parchment that should be at least half of a Potions essay by now was completely blank.

The sound of Remus' quill scratching on his parchment was the only noise in the room, and it was distracting Sirius from his thoughts. They weren't about the key ingredients of a Sleeping Draught, like they should be. This essay was due tomorrow, and Sirius hadn't even started it yet. He couldn't blame Adriyana; it wasn't exactly her fault he couldn't stop thinking about her. She had been the object of his thoughts for the last hour. He couldn't stop wondering how she caused his breath to catch with every touch, how she drove him completely crazy, and…how, because of her, he finally knew what true love felt like. Wow. He, Sirius Black, was in love. There wasn't a doubt in his mind, he'd known ever since that night he and Adriyana were stargazing…

_"See that?" Sirius asked Adriyana, as he pointed to the brightest star in the sky._

_"Yeah…" she said, eyes sparkling._

_"That's my star…Sirius. Ever since I learned that, I've been fascinated by astronomy," he said, wrapping his arm around her._

_"Sirius, huh? Well…I guess it's my star now, too," she said, as she rested her head on his shoulder._

Since then, Sirius had been able to think about very little else besides her. Yeah, he was in there pretty deep…

So how was he ever going to be able to tell her about Gabriella?

Gabriella Dawson was a very pretty blonde Hufflepuff two years above them, and in Sirius' fifth year and Gabriella's seventh, a few months before Sirius had realized he had feelings for Adriyana, Gabriella had asked him to go to Hogsmeade with her. He'd agreed, and they'd ended up having way too much Firewhisky at the Hog's Head. Sirius had woken up with a splitting headache in a bed in the Room of Requirement. Next to Gabriella. With no clothes on. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened. After that the two of them never really spoke to each other again. He still hadn't told Adriyana about it, and shuddered to think what she might say.

Merlin's beard, his mind had never spun so fast. He needed something to distract him, because this Potions essay just wasn't doing it for him.

"Oi! Prongs!" he called across the room.

"Yeah, Padfoot?" James asked.

"I'm bored," Sirius stated. "Let's go bother Snape!"

"You read my mind, mate," James said with a grin, pulling a pale pink fluffy book out from under his bed.

"What is that, Prongs?" Remus asked, putting away his completed essay.

"Oh, this? I found it in the common room. Thought it might come in handy with a prank," James said. Sirius looked at the title. _Grooming Spells for Young Witches_.

Sirius snorted. "What the hell?"

James glared at him. "Shut up, Padfoot. I'm trying to find the Breast Enhancement Charm!"

Peter couldn't suppress his laughter anymore. "Prongs, I don't think there is such a thing,"

Seconds later, however, James had apparently found the charm. He pointed his wand at Peter's chest. "Enhancius!" he said.

Peter wasn't quick enough to jump out of the way of the spell, and…well, make up your own version of what happened. James was laughing so hard it took him twenty minutes to look up the countercurse.

"Prongs! What happened to not pranking a fellow Marauder?" Peter said, his chest restored to its normal size.

"So-Sorry Worm-Wormtail," James gasped before falling to the ground laughing again. "I had to test it on someone, didn't I?"

"Hey, I'm a rat, not a guinea pig!" Peter huffed, though the dramatic affect of his huffiness was somewhat diminished when he burst into laughter a second later.

"Snivellus, get ready for an extreme makeover!" Sirius called, standing up from where he had fallen off his bed from laughing.

"I have to see this," Remus said, giving Sirius a hand to help him up off the ground.

That afternoon at lunch, the Marauders (minus Peter, who had a stomachache and had gone to the Hospital Wing for a potion) walked into the Great Hall, still laughing from what they had done to Snivellus earlier. While they tracked him down, James had also discovered the Hair-Bleaching charm and the Tanning charm. When they were finished, Snape looked like a very greasy and also rather scary Muggle Malibu Barbie Doll.

Sirius sat down, sniggering.

"What's so funny, Siri?" said a voice next to him. He looked around, seeing that he had sat down next to Adriyana. She smiled at him.

"Oh, we just…gave Snivellus a makeover," he said.

Suddenly, they saw Peter running to the Gryffindor table at mach speed. He looked like he was having a hard time not collapsing into laughter as he ran up to them, and he nearly crashed into a second year in front of him halfway up the table.

Once he had reached them, they had to wait for him to catch his breath and stop laughing before he could actually speak.

"Snape…Boobs…Pomfrey…can't…countercurse…" he said.

"What was that, Wormtail?" James asked.

Peter took a deep breath. "Pomfrey can't find the countercurse to the boobs charm," he said, and everyone, even Lily, burst out laughing.

"Wait a minute," said Alice, once she had recovered. "Do you guys have my Grooming Spells book? I left it in the common room one day, and now I can't find it anywhere."

"Oh, sorry, Alice. Yeah, we have it," James said. "We'll give it to you later."

"Some of those spells are really useful," Adriyana said. "But very few people know about them. That particular book is from France, so we don't have it in school."

"Yeah, I didn't even know there was a Breast Enhancement charm," Lily said. "I guess it's a French thing."

"That would explain why all those girls from Beauxbatons all have huge--" Sirius began, but was cut off when Adriyana lobbed a roll at his head.

"So, you guys gave Snape a boob job, and now they're stuck there?" Amber asked, because she had been laughing so hard during their conversation.

"Basically, yeah," James said.

"We should send him a bra…" Adriyana mused.

At that moment, Snape walked into the Great Hall. He was carrying a gigantic box in front of his chest, which seemed to be Madam Pomfrey's temporary solution to the "issue." Snape heard their laughter and shot a glare towards them. If looks could kill, the world would be down four Marauders.

They watched in amusement as Snape tried to sit down at the Slytherin table while still holding the large box.

"Shut up, all of you! Does the word 'inconspicuous' mean anything to you?" James hissed.

"Do you even know what it means, James?" Lily said.

Snape dropped the box. Fortunately (for him), there were very few people in the Great Hall, it was very early to be having lunch.

"Whoa! Those are huge!" Adriyana said loudly, causing Snape to glare at her. Then she burst into hysterical laughter with the rest of the group.

Later that day, they were in their final class, Divination. The class had actually been okay fifth year, so all of them decided to take it again. The girls and Remus found it intriguing, Sirius loved learning about the stars, James got to take another class with Lily, and Peter followed the rest of them. Their professor fifth year had been very interesting, in a good way, and the classes were pretty good. This year, however, they had a new Professor. Professor Chauncey. Without a doubt, she was the most bizarre person they had ever met. She dressed in only burgundy, wore as many gold bangles as her body could carry, waggled her fingers at you when she spoke, and began almost every sentence with "The fates have informed me that…" or "My inner eye tells me…" or something equally ridiculous. Needless to say, Divination was suddenly one of their least favorite classes, and none of them would be taking it again next year.

"Uggh. Why are we doing this AGAIN? We learned all this years ago!" Alice said, motioning to the crystal ball sitting in front of her.

"The fates have informed me that Chauncey was too plastered last night to come up with a decent lesson plan," Adriyana said mysteriously, putting her fingers to her temples and causing Peter, Alice, and Sirius, whom were sitting at her table, to burst out laughing.

"Miss Dumbledore! Are you having a vision?" Professor Chauncey said urgently, running up to Adriyana, who was still touching her temples, eyes closed. Alice shoved her whole fist in her mouth.

"Come again?" Adriyana said, squinting up at her.

"You have a strange aura surrounding you, dear," Chauncey said, turning her gaze to Peter.

_'Short attention span much?'_ Alice wrote on her walkie-talkie paper. Sirius and Adriyana snickered.

"My inner eye tells me that you aren't paying attention, Miss Dumbledore," Professor Chauncey whirled back towards Adriyana. "Why don't you look into The Orb and tell us what Peter here has in store."

"Okay, then. Er…" Adriyana looked into the crystal ball but couldn't see anything but fog. "Pete…I see…Oh! I see a very attractive female in here!"–Peter looked up hopefully–"yes, very attractive indeed, maybe you'll get a girlfr–oh…that's just my reflection…well, I don't see anything, then," Adriyana said looking up from the crystal ball. Alice had to bite her fist again. Sirius just smiled.

"Miss Dumbledore! If you can't take this seriously, then maybe you just don't have the inner eye!" Professor Chauncey said, then stormed away to help another table.

Adriyana shot a quizzical look at Alice, who still had her fist in her mouth, and both of them cracked up.

"Prank Chauncey? Why so sudden, Padfoot?" James asked, as the four Marauders walked down the spiraling staircase of North Tower.

"She just…is overdue, is all," Sirius said. "Plus, I've thought of the best prank ever to use on her! It's genius!"

"Well, what is it?" James asked urgently.

"Okay…what's Chauncey's biggest fear?"

"Um…dark omens?" Peter said, shrugging.

"Yeah. And what's the darkest omen there is?" Sirius asked.

"The Grim. Everyone knows–" Remus began, and then broke off, looking at Sirius, who was grinning maniacally.

That night, Adriyana was walking through the halls alone. She had left her friends behind in the common room in favor of some time alone to think, and now she had the perfect place. The statue of the One-Eyed Witch Sirius had taken her through back on their (disastrous) second date. Apparently Remus used it as a quiet place to think (among other things), so why couldn't she?

As she was walking, she realized something very important. Without Sirius, she had no idea where to go. She had just been wandering around, thinking she was going the right way, but she suddenly noticed that she was completely lost. In a way, it was Sirius' fault she was lost, because she had been too busy thinking about him to notice where she was going.

Sirius, the boy she was in love with after only three short months. Sirius, the only boy who could turn her legs to jelly with his smoldering grey stare.

"I love Sirius," she said, loving the way the words sounded together. Now if only she could say them to his face.

"RUN! EVERYONE RUN! IT'S THE GRIM!" an urgent voice screamed from down the deserted hall.

"Wha–" Adriyana began, but what the screaming was suddenly became abundantly clear.

Professor Chauncey ran past Adriyana, closely followed by a huge black dog.

They turned down a hallway, and the screaming voice got quieter and quieter. Adriyana stared down the hall in shocked silence. "Okay…that was NOT normal!" she said to herself, and began laughing, before letting her thoughts return to Sirius.

She didn't understand how everyone said love could be terrible. Terrifying, maybe. Truthfully, Adriyana had never felt more amazing ever since she realized that she was in love.

Maybe because she thought Sirius felt the same way.

At that moment, Adriyana knew she was ready to tell Sirius that she loved him. Now all she had to do was find him. Where was he? More importantly, where was she? In all of her years at Hogwarts, she was fairly sure she had never been down this corridor before, but it was in a right state. The walls were nearly collapsing, and the whole place looked rather decrepit.

She heard a crumbling noise from up above her. She looked up, and her eyes widened in fear.

Sirius was still laughing hysterically as he told Peter and Remus about the prank. James had gone out to get them some chocolate and butterbeer from the kitchens to celebrate.

"Hey, guys, have you seen Agie recently?" Amber asked, walking up to them.

"Oh, I saw her about an hour ago…but wasn't she with you?" Sirius asked her worriedly. The last time he had seen her, he was Padfoot, and he was chasing Chauncey through the halls.

"No, I haven't seen her in forever!" Amber said, then motioned to Lily and Alice, who had walked up next to her. "None of us have."

"Well, where could she be?"

"She said she went out to 'think' after dinner…that's the last time we saw her," Lily said.

James walked through the portrait hole just then, without any food. He was pale as a ghost.

"I seem to notice a distinct lack of food, Prongs," Peter said, staring sadly at James' empty hands.

James ignored him, and took a deep breath as he reached them. All of them could tell instantly that something was wrong. James looked incredibly distraught.

"Did something happen?" Remus asked. James collapsed on the couch and put his head into his hands. Then he nodded.

"What is it?" Lily asked.

James lifted his face. He looked caught between shock and sadness. "Adriyana…" he said, paling even more and looking down glumly. Sirius' heart skipped a beat.

"WHAT? WHERE IS SHE?" Sirius yelled urgently, jumping off his chair and running up to James.

"She's at…" James said quietly, but the next thing he said was too quiet for any of them to hear. They all knew something was up, though. Amber had grabbed Remus' hand tightly and Lily had her face in her hands.

James took another deep breath and opened his mouth. The next words he said made were quite possibly the most horrifying words Sirius had ever heard.

"She's at St. Mungo's."

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A/N: Dun dun dun dun!!!! suspense music Siri's hiding something from dear Agie...and Agie's at St. Mungo's...this is getting annoyingly tragic...sigh

It's a cliff hanger...yeah I know...and I'm not updating until you people review...hmmmpphh.

Read and Review...pwetty pwease with whip cream and all the cherries on top...


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